No, that is not a hot young prospect out of Moscow, that is the trio of
Jeff Schultz, Tom Poti, and Dmitry Orlov.
In another time, these three defensemen might have been stalwarts among
the top-six blueliners for the Caps.
Schultz, the quiet, stay-at-home defenseman with the long reach and use
of position and angles more than brawn to defend. Poti, the veteran who developed a solid
two-way aspect to his game after years of being primarily an offensive
defenseman. Orlov, the up-and-comer with
a heavy shot and a heavier hip check.
The 2013 season was not “another time” for these three defensemen. Combined they appeared in 47 games, going
0-6-6, minus-3. In no game this season
did all three dress for action. Orlov
and Schultz dressed for the March 19th contest against Pittsburgh –
a 2-1 loss in which neither was on ice for any of the three goals in their
combined 22:47 of ice time. Schultz and
Poti appeared in 11 games together, the Caps going 4-7-0 in those contests and
allowing 41 goals in the process. Poti’s
season ended on March 17th, the game before Orlov would play in his
first of the season on March 19th.
None of the three appeared in the post season, all have question marks
heading into the off-season.
Jeff Schultz is signed to the Capitals through next season at a $2.75
million salary cap hit. Here is the
thing, though. Schultz appeared in 29 of
the first 31 games of the 2011-2012 season (0-5-5, plus-1), but has appeared in
only 51 of 99 regular season games since (1-3-4, minus-9). Forty seven of those
48 absences were healthy scratches (he was out due to illness for the February
1, 2012 game against Florida). For all
intents and purposes he has been passed on the depth chart by Orlov, Tomas
Kundratek, and Steve Oleksy from within the organization, and Jack Hillen came
in from Nashville to occupy a top-six spot that otherwise might have gone to
Schultz…in another time. Even prospect
Cameron Schilling, who got a sweater along with Schultz for a March 12th
contest with Carolina in Schilling's only appearance of the season, might be in a position to pass him on the depth chart
shortly.
Schultz is almost to the point of being “dead money” laying in plain
sight. He would have a bulls-eye on his
back as a compliance buyout, especially with the Caps having to find cap room
to re-sign restricted free agent Karl Alzner.
But the Caps are not a team with a lot of depth on the blue line. When John Erskine – a capable third-pair
defenseman – is getting a lot of second-pair minutes, you have depth
issues.
The Caps have 20 players on the parent roster signed for next season
(assuming Philipp Grubauer spends the season in Hershey and Dmitry Orlov
rejoins the club), including Schultz, with a cap hit of $58.934 million
(numbers from capgeek.com). That leaves
the Caps with $5.526 million in cap room to fill up to three roster spots,
including the re-signing of Alzner and either signing or replacing Mike Ribeiro
at center. If Schultz is bought out,
that makes up to four roster spots to fill and $8.276 million in cap room. Even if Schultz is bought out, resigning
Alzner and Ribeiro could eat up the entire remaning cap room and still leave
the team needing a seventh roster defenseman.
Ribeiro might or might not be in Washington in September. It seems almost a betting certainty that
Schultz will not.
Tom Poti has 37 regular season games on his resume over the last three
seasons, 16 of them this year before an injury to his ribs that ended his
season. The question for Poti is not
whether he will return to the Capitals’ lineup – he will not
-- but whether he has anything left in the tank to find a suitor for next
season. If a guy deserves such a shot,
it is Tom Poti. Fractured pelvis,
multiple groin injuries, neck and back injuries. That has been his recent history with the Caps. Through it all, he was uncommonly dedicated to his
craft, persevered when others would have called it a day and retired, and
exemplified the highest level of sportsmanship and professionalism when after
recovering from injuries found no playing time available. He is a fine nominee for the Bill Masterton
Trophy. One hopes that it is not the
capstone of his career and that there is more hockey from Poti to come.
Dmitry Orlov had an impressive rookie season in 2011-2012 – tied for
eighth among rookie defensemen in goals, tied for second in assists, fourth in
points, one of only 11 rookie defensemen with at least one game-winning goal,
and he did this with only the 23rd highest average ice time among
rookie blueliners. And there were the
thundering hip checks…
His sophomore season was jinxed from the start. There was the lockout that affected everyone,
and Orlov started his season in Hershey.
In his first 17 games with the Bears, Orlov was a respectable 1-8-9,
plus-2, although the Bears were only 7-9-1 in those games. Then the Bears came to Verizon Center to “visit”
the Norfolk Admirals, the home team for purposes of the AHL Showcase on
December 6th. With the teams
tied at a goal apiece late in the first period, Orlov sustained a double
barreled hit that dropped him to the ice and might have been the one that left
him with a concussion.
That would be the last game Orlov would play until March 9th,
when he returned to action for the Bears against, who else, Norfolk. After a four-game get well tour, he was
called up to the Caps for a game against Pittsburgh on March 19th. Orlov lasted five games, going 0-1-1, plus-5,
averaging a few ticks fewer than 15 minutes of ice time. In the midst of a lot of personnel movement
along the blue line at the end of the month and beginning of April, Orlov was
returned to Hershey for the rest of the 2013 season, where he was 2-3-5,
minus-2 in nine games to close the regular season and 1-2-3, even, in four
playoff games in the Bears’ five-game loss to Providence in the first round.
The question going forward is whether Orlov suffers any lingering
effects of his concussion. Assuming Karl
Alzner is re-signed, Orlov will likely be battling Steve Oleksy and Jack Hillen
for ice time on the parent roster next fall.
The three constitute a bargain, salary cap-wise, consuming just over
$2.1 million in combined cap room for the 2013-2014 season (more than half a
million less than Jeff Schultz’ cap hit, by way of comparison). But is there a reliable, healthy third-pair
to be cobbled together out of that group?
Hillen and Orlov missed significant time to injuries this season.
In the end…
“Schulpotorlov” did not have the season wished for, not by a long shot.
Jeff Schultz became a regular scratch, Tom Poti could never quite come all the
way back from injury, and Dmitry Orlov would experience what amounted to a lost
season. None are guaranteed a sweater on
a regular basis – with Washington or with another NHL team – for the 2013-2014
season. All of them have a common goal
in the season to come – “a comeback.”
Grade: incomplete
2 comments:
that is to say that the defensemen are doing nice job . i love that. http//www.unn.edu.ng
I would disagree slightly with your statement:
"But the Caps are not a team with a lot of depth on the blue line. When John Erskine – a capable third-pair defenseman – is getting a lot of second-pair minutes, you have depth issues."
They have lots of depth on the blue line, otherwise Orlov and Kundratek would have been playing in the NHL all year. They also have Schilling, Schmidt and Wey at Hershey or the Caps next year, and all project as NHL defensemen.
What put Erskine on the 2nd pairing was his experience, size and snarl, which the Caps were seriously lacking in their D-corps (and their forwards too, for that matter). They needed #4 on the ice more than 3rd pairing minutes would allow, and he was a good fit with Carlson, who needed to work with an experienced, stay-at-home partner to help him grow -- and I think Carlson's play really improved after he started working with Erskine.
Note also that in Oates' system, the LD and RD are effectively 2 exclusive positions: right-handers play RD, lefties play LD. No swapping except in emergencies. Given that, and assuming Alzner is re-signed) Schultz, Hillen, Orlov, Schilling and Schmidt are all competing for one spot in the line-up, whether that's 2nd pair or 3rd pair. Schultz is a goner, but all of the others are capable young players, and a source of significant depth at that position -- to the point that I would not be surprised to see one or more of them dangled as trade bait.
On the right side, Oleksy, Kundratek and Wey are battling for one line-up spot as well. Each brings something different to the line-up, and it will be an interesting battle to see who ends up making the team and playing.
Then you add in Carrick (RD), Flemming (RD), Djoos (LD), Rissling (LD), Haar (LD)... and you realize that the Caps have a lot of players in the system that have NHL potential, including eventual top-4 potential. They are all very young, and some will not make it, but they offer a lot more depth than most teams have in the back end, and I would not be surprised if some were moved this summer, either to move up in the draft, or packaged to get some help at 2C or 1LW.
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