“Whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself
completely; in great aims and in small I have always thoroughly been in
earnest.”
-- Charles Dickens
Like folks in most walks of life, most hockey players toil
in relative anonymity. “Grinders,” those
players who log few minutes, but often intense ones with the greater demands on
physical and defensive play, get few lines of press, not a lot of interview
opportunities, and not many appearances on highlight reels unless they are the victim
of a Connor McDavid end-to-end rush or a blind pass from the stick of Sidney
Crosby.
Count Nic Dowd among that population of hockey players. Which is not to say his presence does not
have value. Since coming to the Caps as
a free agent in July 2018, Dowd is 15-22-37, plus-21, while averaging 11
minutes and change in ice time per game.
Not bad numbers for a fourth line center.
His offensive numbers slipped a bit this past season, down
to 15 points in 56 games from 22 points in 64 games in 2018-2019, but that was
a product of a lower assist total (his seven goals were one short of the total
he posted in 2018-2019).
The physical element of his game was raised a notch this
season. Dowd was credited with 117 hits,
20 more than in 2018-2019, and his hits per 60 minutes were up almost 31
percent (from 8.83 to 11.56). His penalty
minutes per game were also up (from 0.18 to 0.30), as were his penalties taken
per 60 minutes (from 0.82 to 0.99).
On the other hand, his ratio of takeaways to giveaways per
60 minutes improved, year-over-year, from 1.32 to 3.14, and his personal shot
attempts-for percentage at 5-on-5 improved significantly, from 48.6 percent in
2018-2019 to 54.1 percent this past season.
Fearless’ Take…
Stars have to shine, but that is often not enough for
sustained success in the NHL. Thus, it
is no surprise that Nic Dowd, perhaps a third-level offensive contributor, had
points in 12 games this season, and the Caps won ten of them. Further, when the Caps are successful, as
with just about any other team, they can afford to roll four lines more
often. And thus, it is also of little
surprise that the Caps were 27-11-3 when Dowd skated ten or more minutes, 8-4-3
when he skated less than ten minutes.
His offensive engagement was helpful too. In 12 games in which he posted at least two
shots on goal, the Caps were 10-2-0.
Cheerless’ Take…
Does physical play matter?
Well, the Caps were 9-8-3 in the 20 games in which he was credited with
at least three hits. They were 3-2-1 in
the six games in which he had at least two blocked shots. And, he has points in 31 of 120 games as a
Cap. Grinders have their place, an
important place, but let’s tap the brakes a bit, cuz.
Odd Dowd Fact…
Nic Dowd hails from Huntsville, Alabama, not exactly a
fertile ground for NHL-caliber hockey players.
But the odd thing is, he isn’t the first NHL’er to claim Huntsville as
his birthplace. Jared Ross dressed for
13 games with the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 seasons.
Game to Remember… March 7, 2020. It took Nic Dowd 158 career games to record
his first three-point game in the NHL, a three-assist game in a 6-5 Gimmick Caps
win over the Carolina Hurricanes in December 2018. It took him 92 more games to record his
second. That came in the Caps’
penultimate game of the regular season, when they visited the Pittsburgh
Penguins. Dowd wasted no time getting started. Richard Panik fished a loose
puck out of the corner to the right of goalie Matt Murray, sending it along the
back wall to Garnet Hathaway. From below
the goal line, Hathaway fed the puck out to Dowd, all alone between the hash marks. Dowd one-timed the puck past Murray, and the
Caps had the early lead just 1:52 into the game.
After a Nicklas Backstrom goal that put the Caps up a pair,
Dowd assisted on a Panik goal with just 1:22 left in the first period to put
the Caps up, 3-0. Dowd completed his
three-point night and iced the game for the Caps when he and Carl Hagelin
exchanged passes on a 2-on-1 shorthanded break, Dowd finishing with a one-timer
to put the Caps up, 4-0, on their way to a 5-2 win.
Game to Forget… October 29, 2019. Winning a game when you fall behind twice,
and doing in in overtime, on the other team’s rink, one of the marquee venues
in the league, is always a big deal. It
would be nice to be around at the end, though.
When the Caps visited Toronto in late October, they fell behind, 1-0,
and then they fell behind again, 3-2.
They tied it up, though, to force overtime, where Alex Ovechkin won it
four minutes into the extra session.
However, the night for Dowd ended early.
After just five shifts and 3:34 in ice time (both season lows), he took
a hit from Justin Holl at the 14:55 mark of the first period and did not
return.
Postseason… Talk about games to forget. Dowd did not register a point in eight
postseason games, recorded only seven shots on goal, and had a minus-4 rating
while averaging 12;43 in ice time. It is
a bit of an issue with Dowd, who in 15 postseason games with the Caps has one
point (a goal) and is a minus-5. That
second and third level scoring has to show up in the playoffs, too.
Looking Ahead…
Nic Dowd just completed the first year of a three-year/$2.25
million contract. It is not a burdensome
contract, even for a fourth liner. The
lingering question, though, is whether at age 30, Dowd is at the summit of his
productive years. Hoping there is a little
more playoff production in him, Caps fans might hope the answer to that
question is “not yet.”
In the end…
If you were to look up “fourth line energy player” in the
Oxford Dictionary of Hockey Terms (there is no such thing), you might find Nic
Dowd’s picture there. He plays hard in
both ends, provides the occasional offensive pop, carries a physical edge,
kills penalties, gives the top forward lines a break without being a
liability. He also comes with a
manageable contract. On a club where
there are a lot of issues to resolve in this off-season, and even into the next
season, Nic Dowd is not among them. That’s
a good thing. Now, if he could just
provide a little more offense in the postseason.
Grade: B
Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America
