The Washington Capitals are halfway through their 2023-24 season schedule and currently sit one point out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Over the next month or so, the team will have some important decisions to make when it comes to their strategy before March 8’s trade deadline.
The Capitals could play well enough to convince general manager Brian MacLellan to stand pat or even add at the deadline. Or, they’ll they sink lower down the standings, as their minus-24 goal differential indicates they could, and try to sell off assets just as they did last season.
According to a recent article from Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli, center Nic Dowd will be at the top of wish lists for other teams around the league if the Capitals decide to sell.
What are the Caps at this stage with father time catching up to Alex Ovechkin? Are they going to be adding to the group? Planning for the future? Trying to do both at the same time? If they make the playoffs, are they considered a threat? Questions abound. If they decide to sell, they will have teams lined up for Nic Dowd, who has another year left at a great cap number.
Dowd, 33, is under contract through the 2024-25 campaign and carries an annual cap hit of $1.3 million. The Alabama native had a landmark 2022-23 season, setting a career high in goals (13) and points (25). So far this year, he’s on pace to match that goal total and is playing the most ice time per game (15:43) that he has in any season in his entire NHL career.
Head coach Spencer Carbery deploys Dowd almost exclusively in defensive positions. In his 33 games this season, at five-on-five he has just 15 offensive zone shift starts compared to a combined 259 defensive zone and neutral zone starts. Despite that, he holds the third best goals for percentage on the team at five-on-five (59.3%) behind just regular linemate Nicolas Aube-Kubel (66.7%) and a small, seven-game stint from Max Pacioretty (62.5%).
After losing linemates Garnet Hathaway and Carl Hagelin in past seasons and seeing Aliaksei Protas find a new home with Connor McMichael and Anthony Mantha, Dowd has formed a new connection with Aube-Kubel and Beck Malenstyn. The three are normally given the tough assignments against every opposition team’s top line and Carbery has leaned on Dowd to mentor and push the younger wingers along.
“What I’ve talked to Dowder a lot about, his two linemates are in this role for the first time in their careers,” Carbery said earlier this month. “Beck is just breaking into the NHL and I think Aube-Kubel is too – from an experience standpoint. For him to help those guys to be thriving in a role where you’re playing against the Adrian Kempes and Anze Kopitars of the world on a nightly basis and then adding production to be plus players, they’ve done a tremendous job for us.”
Dowd is also one of the league’s most prolific penalty killers. Among all forwards in the NHL, he ranks ninth in shorthanded ice time per game (2:38). Additionally, since his arrival in DC for the 2018-19 season, he is the Capitals’ top faceoff man.
He has taken 4,122 draws as a member of the Capitals and won 52.3 percent of them. The next closest center over that same timeframe is Lars Eller at 50.9 percent.
