Your participation in the Happiness Survey was appreciated by everyone here in the Customer Success Department of RMNB. Our team completed rigorous analysis of the data (we did the averages), and we are now prepared to present the findings.
Before we proceed, consider that this third and final happiness survey of the season was distributed just before the playoffs began – and therefore right as the Capitals season was at its highest point.
We had nearly 1,700 responses when this report was created. As a reminder, the survey is based on feelings. Here’s how we worded it:
On a scale from 1 to 5, how HAPPY are you to have this player on the team?
1 means VERY UNHAPPY TO HAVE THEM ON THE TEAM
2 means UNHAPPY
3 means NEITHER HAPPY NOR UNHAPPY
4 means HAPPY
5 means VERY HAPPY TO HAVE THEM ON THE TEAM
Below are the average scores for each player, grouped into tiers.
MVPs tier
These are the Capitals who bring you the most joy
- Charlie Lindgren 4.84 ± 0.54
- Dylan Strome 4.75 ± 0.58
- Alex Ovechkin 4.75 ± 0.65
- Tom Wilson 4.51 ± 0.82
Slam-dunk choices, all of them. Lindgren ranked 12th in the league in goals saved better than expected. Ovechkin led the team in goals. Strome was the team’s straight-up best skater. Wilson (who had the exact same score last time) is a fan favorite. Strome, Lindgren, and Wilson were in the top tier last survey as well, but Ovechkin’s late-season scoring rocketed him up 0.9 points.
The Core tier
Not superstars, but these Capitals are still critical
- Nic Dowd 4.42 ± 0.75
- John Carlson 4.42 ± 0.81
- TJ Oshie 4.38 ± 0.86
Carlson is a big riser here, up 0.9 points from last time. He had 24 points in the 35 regular-season games after the prior happiness survey. Oshie, meanwhile, should be considered a reminder on the subjective nature of this exercise; he was obviously struggling down the stretch. Dowd, Peter’s favorite player of 2022, actually had a tough finish to the regular season but remains a valued role-player.
Load-bearing tier
Players who stepped up into roles bigger than expected
- Sonny Milano 4.27 ± 0.77
- Connor McMichael 4.26 ± 0.78
- Martin Fehervary 4.02 ± 0.79
- Hendrix Lapierre 4.01 ± 0.77
Two forwards (McMichael and Lapierre) who handled top-six assignments, a defender (Fehervary) who ate major minutes, and Sonny Milano, who returned from injury shortly after the last survey (3.49, so he improved almost 0.8 points) and scored a hat trick not long after.
Some Guys tier
These are eight more players for the Washington Capitals
- Ivan Miroshnichenko 3.90 ± 0.85
- Rasmus Sandin 3.88 ± 0.81
- Beck Malenstyn 3.81 ± 0.87
- Aliaksei Protas 3.77 ± 0.85
- Trevor van Riemsdyk 3.65 ± 0.86
- Nick Jensen 3.63 ± 0.95
- Vincent Iorio 3.46 ± 0.84
- Nicolas Aube-Kubel 3.33 ± 0.90
A mixed bag here of unproven young players like Iorio and Miro, young depth players like Malenstyn and Protas, and some players who struggled a bit this season – Sandin and Jensen jumping out at me most. Jensen actually improved 0.7 points from last time, which perhaps speaks to the generally brighter aura around this survey, which was conducted just as the Caps clinched a playoff spot.
Nicklas Backstrom tier
The tier with Nicklas Backstrom in it
- Nicklas Backstrom 3.51 ± 1.39
The standard deviation of 1.39 indicates a lot of disagreement about how to rate Backstrom. I figure anyone can feel however they want about Nicky, who probably won’t ever hit the ice again.
Hershey tier
Bears
- Alexander Alexeyev 3.57 ± 0.77
- Dylan McIlrath 3.31 ± 0.90
- Michael Sgarbossa 3.29 ± 0.78
- Lucas Johansen 2.75 ± 0.82
- Matthew Phillips 2.52 ± 0.99
I like that all these guys grouped up together, roughly within one point of each other. Alexeyev is a big riser from last time, playing important minutes in the games just before the survey was run. In my opinion, Sgarbossa is too low, though he didn’t get a sweater in the final couple weeks of regular-season games.
D tier
The most worrying Washington Capitals
- Max Pacioretty 2.72 ± 1.06
- Darcy Kuemper 2.40 ± 0.98
Pacioretty has the team’s highest assist rate, but for a goal-scorer with just four goals it’s hard not to at least hang some caveats on his season. Kuemper earned his backup slot, saving about five goals worse than expected and ranking him just barely in the league’s top 60 goalies. Actually, all things considered, these weren’t totally abysmal performances, so maybe that’s something to be grateful for.
And so ends the 2023-24 Happiness Survey. What do you think?
