"Every character actor, in their own little sphere, is
the lead."
-- Dabbs Greer
In the post-championship haze of celebration, it is easy to
forget the contributions of players who might have played support roles in the path to victory. Ten players played in fewer than 25 regular
season games this season for the Washington Capitals. We already covered one in Michal Kempny, owing to his importance down the stretch and in the postseason. Here are the ten in order of games played:
Even without Kempny’s contributions, the other nine combined
for what would be a respectable season’s worth of games (71) and went a
combined 3-9-12, plus-8, averaging more than 11 minutes of ice time per
game. As a group those contributions are
not inconsequential, and each of the nine deserves some mention.
Taylor Chorney
Taylor Chorney came into his eighth season having played 73
games in two seasons with the Caps, going 2-9-11, plus-16 in the process. Chorney, who spent much of his career on the
fringes of getting playing time, often in the role of a seventh defenseman,
appeared in 24 of the first 57 games of the season for the Caps, going 1-3-4,
plus-8. That plus-minus added to a
strange, if impressive run for Chorney.
In the last three seasons, his plus-24 in aggregate was 12th-best
on the team in that span, despite his playing far fewer games (97, including
this season) than any other player on the list (Nate Schmidt was a plus-34 in
132 games). Chorney was waived on
February 21st with the intention of assigning him to the Hershey
Bears in the AHL if he cleared, but he was claimed by the Columbus Blue
Jackets. He appeared in just one game
for Columbus and signed with HC Lugano of the National League in Switzerland.
Jakub Jerabek
The Capitals were in the market for defensemen at the
trading deadline, and while Michal Kempny’s acquisition at that time was more
consequential, the Caps did pick up another defenseman. Washington traded a fifth-round draft pick to
the Montreal Canadiens for Jakub Jerabek on February 21st. Jerebek, who played in 25 games for the
Canadiens in what was his rookie season, played in 11 games for the Caps,
matching his scoring line with Montreal precisely (1-3-4, minus-1). All of his scoring with the Caps came in his
last seven games he played in. The Caps
were successful with Jerabek on the ice, going 9-2-0 in his 11 games. He started the first two games of the
postseason for the Caps, both overtime losses to Columbus, but he was scratched
for the duration, Christian Djoos replacing him in the lineup. He ended the season an unrestricted free
agent.
Travis Boyd
Travis Boyd’s long climb to the NHL bore fruit in
2017-2018. Drafted in the sixth round of
the 2011 entry draft by the Caps, Boyd spent four years with the University of
Minnesota and three more with the Hershey Bears in the AHL before this
season. After starting this season with
the Bears, Boyd made his NHL debut on December 4th against the San
Jose Sharks. After a second game with
the Caps, he would be sent back to Hershey, but he came up for six more games
as the season was winding down. He made
his first NHL playoff appearance in the series-clinching Game 6 against
Pittsburgh in the second round, playing 12 minutes and change in the
contest. Boyd is in the Caps’ fold for
two more seasons before his current contract expires at the end of the
2019-2020 season.
Aaron Ness
It might surprise Caps fans to know that it has been ten
years since Aaron Ness was drafted, taken with the 40th overall pick
(second round) by the New York Islanders in 2008. From 2011-2012 through 2013-2014, Ness split
time between the Islanders and the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, playing in 29 games
with the parent club. He signed with the
Caps as a free agent in July 2016 and has played in 18 regular season games
with Washington over three seasons, including eight games this season. Unfortunately, it cannot be said that his
presence filled a gap adequately. The
Caps were just 3-4-1 in the eight games in which he appeared. He did not dress for the Caps after a
November 7th game against Buffalo.
Nathan Walker
Some players acquire a following based on their performance,
others on their unique circumstances.
For Nathan Walker it might be more a case of the latter, an player born
in Wales and raised in Australia in the National Hockey League. And then there was Walker’s roundabout
experience this season. He started in
the Caps organization and even made his NHL debut for the club, playing in
seven games early in the season. He was
placed on waivers in late November, from which he was claimed by the Edmonton
Oilers. He did not dress for the Oilers
before he was placed on waivers once more and claimed by the Caps. He did not play for the Caps over the
remainder of the regular season, spending it with the Hershey Bears. However, he did manage to get into one
postseason game for the Caps, recording an assist in the Caps’ Game 6,
series-clinching win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round. Walker has one more season on his current
contract with the Caps.
Tyler Graovac
Tyler Graovac was not the last player taken in the 2011
entry draft, but he could see that spot from where he was picked – 191st
among 211 players taken – selected by the Minnesota Wild. He eventually made it all the way, playing
three seasons for the Wild in which he had seven goals and nine points in 57
games. He was traded to the Capitals by
the Wild for a fifth round pick in the 2018 entry draft (Minnesota selected
Damien Giroux). He appeared in just five
games with Washington, recording no points and a minus-3, his last game being
November 30th. He spent most
of the year in Hershey with the Bears, where he went 12-17-29, minus-5, in 53
games.
Shane Gersich
Shane Gersich might have been only a fifth-round pick of the
Caps in the 2014 entry draft, but after scoring 43 goals in 117 games over
three seasons with the University of North Dakota in the NCAA, one might have
had a greater sense of anticipation when Gersich was signed to a two-year
contract last march. He made his NHL
debut on March 28th, against the New York Rangers, and appeared in
three games down the stretch of the regular season, recording his first NHL
point, an assist in the Caps’ season-ending 5-3 win over the New Jersey
Devils. He got into two postseason
games, both in the second round against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but he did not
record a point in getting less than six minutes of ice time in each game.
Liam O’Brien
It seems like forever ago that Liam O’Brien was a surprise
in the Opening Night lineup against Montreal in October 2014. He played in 13 games that season before
being sent down to Hershey, and he has had a hard time making the return trip to
Washington. This season, he appeared in
three games without recording a point, but he did make his presence felt in his
last game with the Caps this year. He
dropped the gloves with Pittsburgh’s Ryan Reaves in a 4-1 win over the Penguins
on November 10th. He was
assigned to Hershey the following day and played the rest of the season there.
Anthony Peluso
When you played in 140 NHL games, logging less than 850
minutes (5:56 a game), your role is not one of scoring goals. Anthony Peluso was that player over four
seasons for the Winnipeg Jets before he came to Washington as a free agent last
July. He did not add to his career total
of four goals with the Caps. Then again,
he appeared in only two games, those on the Caps’ annual tour of western Canada. He played less than five minutes in both and
did not record a point in a win and a loss.
He ended the season as an unrestricted free agent.
In the end…
Some players among the chorus contribute more than
others. Michal Kempny became a lesser
hero with the stability he provided on the Caps’ second defensive pair (with
John Carlson) and his postseason performance.
At the other end, a player like Anthony Peluso gets two early season
games and is not heard from again. But
we are still talking about some of the best practitioners of their craft on the
planet. And in that respect, that quote
from the late character actor Dabbs Greer takes meaning. Even character actors – bit players, if you
will – play their role. Even for a
championship team.
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