It was easy to overlook Martin Fehervary until we found out how indispensable he really was.
By the Numbers
5
Goals
20
Assists
81
Games played
19
Minutes per game
On-ice percentages
52%
Shot attempts
51%
Expected goals
50%
Actual goals
Isolated Impact by HockeyViz
About this visualization: This image by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows how the player has impacted play when on the ice. At the top of the image is the team’s offense (even strength at left, power play at right) and at bottom is the team’s defense (with penalty kill at bottom right). In each case, red/orange blobs mean teams shoot for more from that location on the ice, and blue/purple means less. In general, a good player should have red/orange blobs near the opponent’s net at top, and blue/purple blobs near their own team’s net at bottom. The distributions in middle show how the player compares to league average at individual finishing, setting up teammates to score, and taking and drawing penalties. The number at center is Synthetic Goals: a catch-all number for the player’s impact.
Player Card by All Three Zones
About this player card: This image from Corey Sznajder of All Three Zones shows how the player compares to league averages in different microstats in the defensive, neutral, and offensive zones. Blue bars mean the player has a higher rate in that statistic compared to league average, and orange means a lower rate. The numbers are Z-scores, also known as standard deviations, indicating how far the number is from league average, where more than two standard deviations means the player is on the extreme edge of the league.
Player Card by Evolving Hockey
About this player card: This card from Josh and Luke of Evolving Hockey compares the player to league averages based on their impact on on-ice statistics. GAR means “goals above replacement,” where “replacement” means an average player called up from the AHL. xGAR is the same figure but assuming league-average goaltending. The numbers at top are the player’s percentile ranks overall and then for offense and defense alone.
Player Overview by NHL Edge
About this visualization: The NHL’s advanced statistics program, Edge, tracks player and puck movement. At left are the player’s numbers in various statistics along with the average number for that same stat among players of the same position and the player’s percentile rank in it. At right is a radar chart for various statistics, where the bigger the shape the better the player performs in those measures.
Fan Happiness Survey
About this visualization: At three times during the season, RMNB conducted an open survey with readers, asking the following question for each player: “On a scale from 1 to 5, how HAPPY are you to have this player on the team?” The numbers above show the average score for the player in each survey period.
Slavoj Žižek on Fehérváry
He is the crux of the unresolvable contradiction of hockey. We wish for the Marty Party, but the nature of Marty is work, not party. Because we long to party, we must forever toil in the ideological machinery of late capitalism.
Peter’s Take
I’ve been accused of being a Martin Fehervary hater. This is not true; I just wished he would be more like the player he was in the first bit of the 2021-22 season, who I thought was fantastic. I got too fixated on that version of that player, and it made me miss what he had been doing during this surprisingly special season.
None of the stats or visualizations here are going to blow your doors off. Marty is defensive competence for offensive lines, and he is speed to complement slower scorers. He plays next to high-possession partners, but he’s best at the stuff without the puck: chasing it and defending the blue line. Boring things that never make it on an intermission highlight reel.
In December, Fehervary started pairing up with Matt Roy, another – let’s just call him subtle – defender. Together they were magic. Not fun, high-fantasy, paperback-novel magic. More like early 2000s, NYT bestseller, magical-realism magic written by an author you’ll have to purge from your bookshelf later on. It was not exciting hockey, and it was actually kind of mid in hindsight, but they got good goaltending and even better bounces. More importantly, they freed up time for guys like John Carlson so they could play optimized, high-event hockey that usually flipped in Washington’s favor.
It was a sleeper of a role for Fehervary, but it was important, and he was good at it.
Then, Caps at Islanders on April 15. First period. An innocent play:
Fehervary went down to block a shot from Bo Horvat and goofed up his knee, ending his season and hobbling the Caps for the playoffs. Alex Alexeyev stepped in, but both he and ex-partner Roy got outscored – the only Caps D to get outscored by more than one goal over those ten loffs games.
A lot went wrong for Washington beyond Fehervary’s injury, but missing him was undeniably a factor. Chychrun had to play four extra minutes per game, Roy had to play three more. Alexeyev, Marty’s replacement, played just ten minutes per game. Not ideal.
Next season, the Caps either need better defensive depth, or they need to time their cataclysmic injuries better. In any case, I appreciate Marty more now.
Marty Party on RMNB
- I’m not sure how to summarize this. Carbery congratulates Fehervary for blocking a shot, “[effing] ate one,” and then everyone calls him ‘Tin. Sure.
- Big, big hit on Casey Mittelstadt
- In December, Tom Wilson high-sticked Fehervary. Fehervary went into concussion protocol and missed some time.
- One month later he took a slapshot to the face.
- In mid-April, Fehervary suffered a lower-body injury. At first we thought it was a turned ankle. Turns out he required knee surgery; he was done for the year, missing the entire postseason.
- Capitals grapple with Martin Fehervary’s season-ending knee injury: ‘My heart hurts for him’
- Let’s let Carbery wrap it up: “My heart hurts for him because he’s an unsung hero for our team. If you know the Washington Capitals and if you’re around our team and if you watch our team, he’s someone that goes unnoticed, that the rest of the hockey world probably doesn’t pay much attention to, but he’s a big part of our team. He competes his butt off every single day, every single night. Lays it on the line. When you talk about sacrifice for your teammates, ask any one of our guys: Marty Fehervary is at the top of the list.”
Your Turn
Hey, at least I admit when I’m wrong. You never do, but here’s your chance. Admit a player you were wrong about.
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