“I never think of the future - it comes soon enough.”
-- Albert Einstein
When defenseman Connor Carrick was taken 137th
overall in the 2012 NHL entry draft, chances are that fans of the Washington
Capitals did not think too long or too hard about whether Carrick would be the
answer to depth concerns on the Capitals blue line. They might have given less thought to the
possibility that barely a year later he would be in the starting lineup on
opening night of the 2013-2014 season against the Chicago Blackhawks.
But there he was, the native of Orland Park, IL, taking the
ice about 30 miles from his hometown against the defending Stanley Cup
champions. It was not the most
auspicious of debuts. On his second NHL
shift he was outmuscled by Brandon Bollig in front of the Washington net where
Bollig collected a rebound and stuffed it into the Capitals’ net for the first
goal of the season. Then, in the third
period, his touch pass intended for Alex Ovechkin was picked off, allowing the
Blackhawks to break the other way and score the tying goal in what would be a
6-4 Chicago win.
Carrick would record his first NHL goal in the Caps’ next
game, their home opener against Calgary, on a breakaway in the second period to
start a comeback from a 3-0 deficit in what would be a 5-4 Gimmick win. But after his third game he was reassigned to
the Hershey Bears in the AHL. One might
have thought that Carrick had his cup o’ coffee with the big club and that he
would spend the rest of the season in his apprenticeship with the Bears.
That was the case until January. Having participated in the World Junior
Championships in Sweden where he had three assists in five games for the United
States, he was recalled to the Caps to fill in during a stretch of five games
in seven days. He stayed for the rest of
the regular season. He would finish 27th
in games played by rookie defensemen (34) and 38th in average ice
time (15:58) hardly insignificant numbers for a fifth-round draft pick barely a
year removed from his draft class. In
fact, only six defensemen in his draft class have more games played than
Carrick, all of them drafted in the first round (Olli Maatta, Hampus Lindholm,
Morgan Rielly, Ryan Murray, Jacob Trouba, and Cody Ceci).
If there was a fault line in Carrick’s game in his rookie
season it was the difference between playing in the friendly confines of
Verizon Center versus donning the white jerseys on the road. In 16 home games Carrick was 1-4-5, minus-1
playing 16:13 a game. On the road he was
0-1-1, minus-8, while playing 15:45 a night in 18 road games. That lone road point was a secondary assist
in the fifth goal of what would be a 5-0 win by the Caps over Montreal at Bell
Centre on January 25th.
Fearless’ Take… Among rookie defensemen Connor Carrick
finished in the top-30 in games played (34), points (6), and shooting
percentage (3.8…ok, it was one goal on 26 shots). He finished even or better in 22 of 34
games. Of 303 defensemen having dressed
for games in the regular season, Carrick was the sixth youngest of the
group. Carrick turned 20 on the last day
of the regular season.
Cheerless’ Take… There wasn’t much fancy about his stats,
eh, cuz? Of 230 defensemen dressing for
at least 25 percent of their teams’ games, Carrick was 210th in
Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 (43.9) and 217th in Fenwick-for
percentage (42.8). His shots-for
percentage was dead last in that group (40.4). Poor kid.
The team gave him a pocket knife to go fight a grizzly bear.
Odd Carrick Fact… There were 45 rookie defensemen who
dressed for ten or more games this season, including Connor Carrick. Only six were on ice for fewer goals-for per
game than Carrick. He was third on his
own team (0.44), behind Alexander Urbom (0.45) and Nate Schmidt (0.79).
Game to Remember… January 31st versus Detroit. The Capitals were sinking like a stone
through the standings. Having lost two
in a row and 15 of their previous 20 games (5-9-6), the Caps went into their January
31st contest with the Detroit Red Wings in 13th place in
the Eastern Conference standings. The
Caps got the Red Wings running around in their own end in the fifth minute of
the first period. Casey Wellman took a
pass from Jason Chimera and curled off at the top of the left wing circle
before throwing the puck at the net. The
puck was redirected wide and off the end boards. Connor Carrick jumped up from the opposite
side and beat Tomas Jurco to the puck, backhanding it through the crease where
Joel Ward took a whack at it. His shot
caromed off the far post but onto the stick of Chimera, who buried the shot to
give the Caps a 1-0 lead. The teams
exchanged the next four goals, Detroit closing to within 3-2 at the 13:30 mark
of the second period. Just 19 seconds after
the second Detroit goal, though, Carrick jumped into the play once more,
darting down the right side and beating Joakim Andersson to a loose puck in the
right wing circle. From the bottom of
the circle Carrick wristed the puck in front where Joel Ward finished the play
to give the Caps a 4-2 lead in what would be a 6-5 overtime win over the Red
Wings. It was Carrick’s first and, to
date, only multi-point game of his brief career.
Game to Forget… January 15th versus
Pittsburgh. The Caps had just taken a
3-2 lead in the ninth minute of the third period against the Penguins at Consol
Energy Center. Three minutes later,
though, Brandon Sutter had the puck in the Caps’ end in the left wing circle
with Carrick defending. Sutter moved the
puck from his forehand to his backhand and stepped past Carrick to get a
passing lane to the crease. Carrick was
a split second too late to keep Sutter from sending a pass to Jussi Jokinen who
batted the puck off Dmitry Orlov’s stick and over goalie Michal Neuvirth to tie
the game. It was the second time Carrick
was left in a bad spot. Earlier in the
game he was trying to defend Taylor Pyatt in front of the Capitals net. Giving away five inches and 45 pounds in the skirmish,
Carrick merely bounced off, leaving Pyatt all alone in front to take a pass
from Olli Maatta and snap it past Neuvirth to tie the game at 2-2. The Penguins went on to win, 4-3.
In the end…
The 2013-2014 season was an unexpected sort of learning
experience for Connor Carrick. Few might
have anticipated that a fifth round draft pick in 2012 out of the U.S. National
Team Development Program and with a year of junior hockey would be skating
significant minutes in the NHL. However,
that Carrick would be one of only nine defensemen drafted in 2012 to dress for
an NHL game says something about the Capitals’ depth at the position as much as
it does Carrick’s talent. Carrick might
have benefitted from a playoff stretch run with the Hershey Bears, but the Caps
left him off the AHL playoff-eligible list while, curiously, he played in only
four of the Caps’ last 13 regular season games.
It is hard to know what the takeaway is for Carrick from
this season. Was it a learning
experience, or was it a learning opportunity lost? Those were things not in his control, making
those things that he could control – his performance in games in which he was
called upon – frustrating to watch at times.
The talent seems to be there, but on too many nights he seemed
overmatched. For Connor Carrick the
future might have come just a bit too soon.
Grade: C+
photo: Bruce Bennett
photo: Bruce Bennett
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