The Washington Capitals are one of the least offensively prolific teams in the entire NHL this season. At five-on-five, they have scored just 33 goals which is the second-lowest mark in the league in front of only the 5-16-2 San Jose Sharks.
The five-on-five offense that they are actually getting also isn’t being fueled by the team’s veteran, star core either. Those numbers have primarily come from the youth that the organization has finally accepted into their lineup this year.
Namely from 2019 draft picks and 2023 Calder Cup champions Aliaksei Protas and Connor McMichael.
Protas leads the entire team in five-on-five scoring with eight points (2g, 6a) despite seeing the third least amount of average five-on-five ice time per game (9:43). The big Belorussian is coming off a very successful run with the Hershey Bears in those Calder Cup playoffs where through the Eastern Conference Finals, he was a legitimate choice for AHL playoffs MVP.
Last season, Protas recorded 15 points (4g, 11a) in 58 NHL games with all 15 of those points coming at five-on-five. Through 19 games this season, Protas is on pace for 38 total points (8g, 30a) with 34 of those points coming at five-on-five.
One of the players right behind Protas in five-on-five scoring is his current linemate, McMichael. McMichael has seven points (3g, 4a) under the same context and has seen an uptick in his production ever since being moved to his natural center position.
Since November 8, McMichael has seven points in 10 games and is now leading the team’s most successful forward line with Protas and Anthony Mantha on his wings. With those three on the ice this season at five-on-five, the Capitals are seeing 65.4 percent of the expected goals, 58.6 percent of the scoring chances, and 68.2 percent of the high-danger chances.
Both Protas and McMichael are 22 years old and receiving extended looks in the NHL, in more positive positions, for really the first time in their careers. Head coach Spencer Carbery talked in the preseason about doing just that for the youth in the organization, a refreshing perspective after years of the opposite with Peter Laviolette.
“In the salary cap era, having that relief from entry-level players being able to come into your lineup and play, that’s something that we will emphasize,” Carbery said in September. “Having those relationships with a lot of our younger players that the expectations aren’t going to change. The rope — obviously I understand young players and I’ve talked about this before — they’re going to make mistakes, they need opportunity, and time, and they will develop, and I’ve seen that firsthand.”
Protas and McMichael both spent time in Hershey under Carbery at the start of their pro careers. According to Carbery before Training Camp, his past ties to those players could facilitate faster development and it’s obvious in the case of the Capitals’ top two five-on-five scorers that they’ve taken another step.
“They also know my level of expectations and and have seen me coach,” Carbery said. “And, they know what are those non-negotiables, and how dialed in they need to be with their structure, and what a track looks like. And if Carbs doesn’t see that, they’re like (sighs)…they know the level of expectation. And so I think that helps with these guys being able to come in, feel a little bit more comfortable, and be able to contribute.
“Because the NHL isn’t a league where you can just [go], ‘Okay keep going out there and making mistakes and we’ll just keep suffering the repercussions.’ That’s not how it works, and that isn’t the way that it’ll work with our young players as well. They know that there’s a level of play that they have to live up to.”
McMichael, now as one of the team’s centers, knows that sort of responsibility very well and has responded excellently to it so far. He spoke with the media after Wednesday night’s win over the Los Angeles Kings that saw him score a goal and assist on another.
“It always feels good when you can contribute in a positive way,” McMichael said. “All four of their lines are high octane and they’re all making plays. It’s for sure difficult to defend and I thought we hung in there especially in the third period.”
“You’re high octane,” veteran center Nic Dowd could be heard joking in the background during McMichael’s answer according to The Washington Post’s Bailey Johnson and Dowd isn’t wrong. McMichael is tied for the team lead in individual high-danger chances at five-on-five this season.
The hope for the Capitals now will be that their younger players continue to score and the veterans catch up eventually. As things currently stand, seven of the team’s top 10 point scorers are under the age of 30.
Full disclosure: This post was inspired by a tweet from Capitals Radio’s Ben Raby before Thursday’s game in Anaheim. Follow him on Twitter.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
