Washington Capitals 2018-2019 Previews -- Defensemen: Madison Bowey

Madison Bowey

“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.”

-- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

At this time last year, the Washington Capitals and their fans were contemplating the possibility of starting two rookie defensemen as a regular feature of their lineup.  Neither Madison Bowey nor Christian Djoos started for the Caps on Opening Night.  But whereas Djoos made his way into the lineup and more or less remained there through the regular season (63 games) and the playoffs (22 games), Bowey found his way into the lineup but dressed for only 51 games, none after February 20^th.  He would be the roster casualty of the Caps obtaining Michal Kempny for the stretch run to the postseason.

Not that his season was a failure so much as it was unsatisfying.  For example, Bowey was only the 18^th rookie defenseman in Caps history to dress for at least 50 games, but he was the only one of those 18 defensemen failing to record a single goal.  He is one of only a dozen Caps rookie defensemen in franchise history to post at least a dozen assists.  Mike Green didn’t do it (ten), despite playing in almost 20 more games (70) in his rookie season.  Kevin Hatcher came up short, too (10 assists in his 1985-1986 rookie season).  For that matter, so did Djoos (11).

If there was a disturbing aspect to Bowey’s play, it was in taking penalties.  Among the 14 rookie defensemen to appear in at least 50 games, Bowey tied for third in penalty minutes taken per game (0:28, with Tampa Bay’s Mikhail Sergachev).  And, there were the possession numbers.  Of that same group of 14 rookie defensemen, his shot attempts-for percentage at 5-on-5 was the worst of the group (44.69; source: NHL.com).  He was the only one of the group whose number in this category was under 50 percent when the team was behind (47.99).  This despite 54.62 percent of his total offensive and defensive zone starts being taken in the offensive zone.  There might be a fair number of Caps fans, however, who would attribute much of this result to his being paired with Brooks Orpik for much of his time.

Odd Bowey Fact…

Despite not scoring a goal in his rookie season, Madison Bowey finished in the top ten among rookie defensemen in points per game (tenth/0.24 per game; minimum: 30 games).

Fearless’ Take…

One has to think the goal scoring will come.  Consider that no defenseman in Kelowna Rockets history (the team for which Bowey played in Canadian junior) has more career goals than Bowey (58).  He did get a fair amount of responsibility for a n NHL rookie otherwise.  Bowey was one of 30 rookie defensemen to skate 15 minutes in at least 13 games. 

Cheerless’ Take…

Hey cuz?  About that goal scoring in junior.  Bowey averaged 11.6 goals per season at Kelowna.  Well, Scott Hannan averaged 11.5 per season with Kelowna, and he ended up with just 39 goals in 1,166 career NHL games.  And about that ice time.  In the 14 games in which Bowey skated at least 15 minutes last season, the Caps were 5-8-1.

Potential Milestones:

• 100 career NHL games (he needs 49)
• 1,000 career minutes played (he needs 301)
• First NHL goal

The Big Question… Can Madison Bowey crack a lineup that looks set in its top-six defensemen?

What was the Capitals’ biggest question mark going into last season – the three defensive pairings – appears to be the most solid fixture on the roster going into this season.  Matt Niskenen – Dmitry Orlov, John Carlson – Michal Kempny, and Brooks Orpik – Christian Djoos appear to be the pairs that would be penciled into the lineup if tonight was Opening Night.  It leaves Madison Bowey in a bit of an odd place.  He is not the sort of veteran that would normally occupy a seventh defenseman spot on a roster the way that a Taylor Chorney might have last season. 

Bowey needs playing time, and under ideal circumstances, if the team manages his development with that in mind, he might be starting the season in Hershey.  But Bowey is no longer waiver exempt.  Unless he has an outstanding camp, he could find himself in an odd no-man’s land, unable to crack the lineup for significant stretches, but a player the team would not prefer to expose to waivers.  Add to this the fact that his position on the depth chart might be challenged from below by players such as Lucas Johansen or Jonas Siegenthaler, and it makes for an interesting situation to watch, if an uncomfortable one for the player.

In the end…

Let’s do a little mind exercise and compare a couple of prospect defensemen.  Defenseman A played 265 games in the Western Hockey League in Canadian junior and scored 37 goals.  In 56 games in the AHL he had nine goals.  As a rookie with the Caps he had two goals in 70 games.  Defenseman B played 259 games in the Western Hockey League in Canadian junior and scored 58 goals.  In 113 games in the AHL, he had nine goals.  Defenseman A went on to be a two-time Norris Trophy runner-up and had a 31-goal season for the Caps – Mike Green.  Defenseman B is, of course, Madison Bowey. 

This is not to say that Bowey will become Mike Green 2.0, any more than he will become the scoring-limited sort like Scott Hannan.  His immediate challenge is getting playing time on a team that is largely set in its top-six defensemen.  That is not a bad thing for the Caps, and it might not be a bad thing for Bowey, who could end up finishing his apprenticeship in Hershey this coming season.  He has worked his way back from what was a gruesome injury in December 2016 that made for a bitter interruption in his development.  As it is, he is at a stage in his career and plays at a position where patience is called for. 

Projection: 30 games, 1-6-7, minus-2

Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Washington Capitals: 2017-2018 By the Tens -- Defensemen: Madison Bowey

Madison Bowey

“At times it is folly to hasten at other times, to delay. The wise do everything in its proper time.”

-- Ovid

It is an article of faith in the NHL that defensemen take longer to develop than do forwards.  That is something Washington Capitals fans might want to put on a Post-It note and affix to their keyboards before tweeting about Madison Bowey.  He was the 18^th defenseman taken in the 2013 entry draft, and when the 2017-2018 season ended, he was one of just 24 of the 69 defensemen taken in that draft to skate in at least one NHL game.  The 51 games in which he appeared is more than five of the 17 defensemen taken ahead of him in that 2013 draft.  In that respect, the third-round/53^rd overall pick in the 2013 draft might be thought of as “on time” in his developmental arc.

The 2017-2018 season might have been a complete immersion into life in the NHL, but circumstances and a sense of urgency intervened as the season wore on for Bowey and the Caps.  He did not make his NHL debut until Game 6 of the regular season, subbing for injured defenseman Matt Niskanen against the Philadelphia Flyers, and it was not the most auspicious of entrances.  Rookies do not dream of skating a shade less than 15 minutes, make no marks on their score sheet line, and end up on ice for three goals in an 8-2 pasting in the other team’s home opener.  That was Bowey’s introduction to the NHL.

Consider it an education.  And he did learn.  He would not be a minus-3 again.  In fact, he was a minus player in only 12 of the other 50 games in which he played.  And there is the important point.  Bowey played in 51 games this season.  In fact, he appeared in 51 of 55 games following his five-game absence to start the season.  However, the Caps found themselves at a crossroads when the trading deadline approached.  After the Caps lost to the Chicago Blackhawks, 7-1, in what in retrospect might have been the most illuminating loss of the season, the Caps were faced with a choice of continuing to dress Bowey (who had only his second game worse than minus-1 against the Blackhawks when he finished minus-2), or they could seek an upgrade in the trade market.

The Caps chose the latter, trading for defensemen Michal Kempny and Jakub Jerabek two days apart.  Bowey appeared in two more games for the Caps, but his season ended with his appearance in a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on February 20^th.  He was reassigned to the Hershey Bears in the AHL on February 26^th and did not dress again for the Caps this season.

Fearless’ Take… As if to drive home the point that development of defensemen requires patience, Madison Bowey was just the 13^th defenseman in Caps history to appear in at least 50 games in his first season with the club (which must be distinguished from “rookie” season, Bowey being the 18^th “rookie” in franchise history to do so) and only the fifth since the 2005-2006 season (Mike Green, John Carlson, Dmitry Orlov and Christian Djoos being the others).

Cheerless’ Take… More Bowey was not a good thing.  In 24 games in which he skated more than 14 minutes, the Caps were 10-12-2.  They were 19-5-3 in the 27 games in which he skated less than 14 minutes.  And there was the matter of how well he might be protected at home versus on the road.  The Caps were 18-8-2 in 28 games he played on home ice, 11-9-3 in the 23 games he played on the road.

Odd Bowey Fact… Madison Bowey is the only one of 18 rookie defensemen in Capitals history to appear in at least 50 games (51) and fail to record at least one goal. 

Game to Remember… November 4^th at Boston

Sometimes, it’s about the team and being part of a team effort.  The Caps opened the season going alternating losses and wins on the road, taking a 2-3-0 record to Boston in early November.  On the other hand, the Bruins had not lost in regulation on home ice in almost a month, since their only regulation loss at TD Garden on October 9^th against the Colorado Avalanche.  The Caps got the early jump on the Bruins, scoring twice in the first period on goals by Tom Wilson and Alex Ovechkin.  The Bruins halved the deficit on a goal by David Pastrnak early in the second period, but the Caps restored their two goal advantage late in the period of Tom Wilson’s second goal of the game.  The Bruins managed to make thing interesting with a power play goal by Pastrnak with less than three minutes left, but the Bruins could get no closer.  Bowey had one of his better all-around games of the season, recording three shot attempts (two on goal) and two hits to go with the team’s only plus-3 in 14:39 of ice time.

Game to Forget… February 20^th vs. Tampa Bay

It would be the last game Madison Bowey would dress for the Caps in the 2017-2018 season.  What made it forgettable was not that any one thing went horribly bad, but that it was a game that resembled several others in the run up to his reassignment.  His 14 shifts was the fewest among defensemen in that game, and his 10:24 in ice time was his third-lowest of his season.  He finished with two shot attempts (one on goal), two hits, and he was on the ice for the Lightning’s second goal of the game, that by Chris Kunitz, part of a disastrous first period in which Tampa Bay scored three goals on eight shots on their way to a 4-2 win. 

Postseason… Bowey did not dress for the postseason.

In the end…

It’s all part of a process.  Not a lot of defensemen jump into the lineup and skate 20 minutes a night for 75 or more games as a rookie (then again, not a lot of rookie defensemen get their names engraved on the Stanley Cup; his 51 regular season games presumably make him eligible).  For the record, in the 12 full seasons since the 2004-2005 lockout (not including the abbreviated 2012-2013 season), only 20 defensemen in their first NHL season appeared in 75 or more games and logged at least 1,500 minutes in ice time.  Madison Bowey will be only 23 years old when the 2018-2019 season opens.  If Brooks Orpik, having been bought out by the Caps yet still a possibility as an unrestricted free agent, does not return to the Caps for next season, Bowey would be considered at the very least a favorite to get one of the six slots on defense, if not the favorite.  It should not be lost on fans that Bowey was held to just 34 games in the 2016-2017 regular season with the Hershey Bears in the AHL due to injury, a lacerated ankle tendon, an injury from which he might still be coming back.   If he is fully recovered and was able to use his reassignment wisely to make progress on his development arc, he might be a player to watch to see if he makes a significant jump forward in his role with the Caps.

Photo: Harry How/Getty Images North America

Washington Capitals 2017-2018 Previews -- The Kids

The Next Generation

“When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.”

-- Alexander Graham Bell

Replace the word “door” with the word “window,” and you might be describing where Capitals Nation stands as training camp moves along.  The two-year window to win a Stanley Cup as it was described by Washington Capitals General Manager Brian MacLellan has come and gone, slammed shut in each year by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

With the window closing on that Capitals team for good, changes came.  Players departed in free agency, adding to the sense of loss fans might have felt.  But pro sports never stands still, and turnover is a fact of life, more so it seems in the NHL than in other sports.  And the departures from the Caps over the off-season open a new window, that being one of opportunity.  Six of the 18 skaters taking the ice in the Caps’ last game of the 2017 postseason did not return for the 2017-2018 season.

The departures make for a rare opportunity for prospects to stake a claim on a roster spot.  Consider that last season the Caps had six rookies dress for the club, but only two – Jakub Vrana and Zach Sanford – dressed for more than 20 games, and Sanford was traded before year end.  This season it is possible, if not likely, that the Caps could have five or more rookies appear in more than 20 games.  We have already taken a look at Madison Bowey and Christian Djoos on defense, and Jakub Vrana among the forwards.

Bowey, Djoos, and Vrana (still a “rookie” having played in only 21 games last season) will be given every opportunity to claim a jersey on a regular basis in the starting lineup.  To this trio, one might see forwards Riley Barber, and/or Nathan Walker dressing for at least 20 games this season.   And there is the further possibility that rookies further down the developmental ladder will get at least a cup o’ coffee with the club. Forward Travis Boyd, and defensemen Jonas Siegenthaler and Lucas Johansen might fall into this group.

Only once in the post-2004-2005 lockout period have the Caps had more than four rookie skaters appear in 20 or more games in a season, and that was in the 2005-2006 season when the team employed five rookie skaters as it was coming out of the lockout and at the depths of their rebuild. (Alex Ovechkin, Brooks Laich, Nolan Yonkman, Jakub Klepis, and Mike Green).  Only once in the last six seasons have the Caps had as many as four rookies skate in 20 or more games (2013-2014: Tom Wilson, Nate Schmidt, Connor Carrick, and Alexander Urbom).

Odd Rookie Fact…

You might think that the recipe for a Stanley Cup does not include a large portion of rookies, and you would be right, but only to a point.  Since the 2004-2005 lockout, four of the 12 Stanley Cup champions employed four or more rookie skaters appearing in at least 20 games in that season: 2006 Carolina Hurricanes (4), 2011 Boston Bruins (5), 2012 Los Angeles Kings (4), and the 2016 Pittsburgh Penguins (5).

Fearless’ Take…

Jakub Vrana has the skill set to be an impact rookie.  He certainly has displayed those skills over his last three seasons (one in Europe, two with Hershey).  Overall, he had 47 goals in 132 games in Sweden and the AHL over the last three seasons.  He had a decent, if uneven, performance in his short, 21-game tour with the Caps last season (3-3-6, three power play goals, two game-winning goals).  Bowey has made steady progress through the developmental channel and displayed a talent for leadership as alternate captain and captain of the Kelowna Rockets in Canadian juniors.  Barber spent three years with a good Miami (Ohio) University program in the NCAA (note: the Penguins had 16 players from last spring’s playoff winning roster spend at least some time in the NCAA  ) and was captain of the 2014 national team for the world junior championship.  If one cannot see the future, one can see the past, and in their past this looks like a crop of prospects that has prepared well for their chances.

Cheerless’ Take…

It just doesn’t pass the sniff test, Fearless.  The Caps lose Justin Williams, Karl Alzner, Nate Schmidt, and Daniel Winnik, and they are going to be as good, let alone better, with Vrana, Bowey, Djoos, and Barber or Walker replacing them?  Maybe down the road (maybe never), but this season?

The Big Question…  Just what is the upside of the rookie crop in 2017-2018?

Vrana has 21 games of experience coming into this season, but Barber has just three games in the NHL, and the others mentioned are true rookies, none with any NHL experience.  This kind of turnover can make for a rocky transition from being on a short list of serious contenders one season to being one of many contenders the following season, and if these prospects are not ready for prime time on a regular basis, the Caps could find themselves fighting for their playoff lives in March and April.

There is every reason to think that the upside for these players is high.  Vrana is a top-six, if not a top line offensive forward.  We compared Vrana to Peter Bondra in our Vrana preview.  Bowey can be a solid, if not elite top-four defenseman.  If there is a comparison to be made there it might be Calle Johansson.  Barber can be a productive bottom-six forward.  Jeff Halpern might the comparable here.  Djoos has potential in the offensive end, and in a league that emphasizes speed more than brawn these days might not be at all that much a disadvantage with his slight build.  But one cannot help but wonder if his comparable is a player like Sami Lepisto.  Nathan Walker is an intriguing player, but harder to predict (or find a comparable) with respect to his upside.

But anything approaching any "upside" for any rookie in this class seems a heavy lift, especially since there could be a substantial number of them that would be integrated into this roster.  

In the end…

At this point, it is all speculation.  But that is what fans do.  And it is always tempting to see the best and be optimistic about the contributions of the incoming rookie class.  But what we feel confident about is that if the Caps are to contend for a championship, it will depend more on the improvement of young veterans like Evgeny Kuznetsov, Andre Burakovsky, Dmitry Orlov, and Tom Wilson than it does on the 2017-2018 rookie class.  And in no way should that be considered surprising.

Washington Capitals 2017-2018 Previews -- Defensemen: Madison Bowey

Madison Bowey

“I will prepare and someday my chance will come.”

-- Abraham Lincoln

For Washington Capitals defenseman-in-waiting Madison Bowey, that chance is here. Three defensemen who started the Capitals’ last game of the 2017-2018 season play for other teams – Karl Alzner with the Montreal Canadiens, Kevin Shattenkirk with the New York Rangers, and Nate Schmidt with the Vegas Golden Knights. As things stand going into training camp, there are only five defensemen on the parent roster, and depending on how you come down on Taylor Chorney’s chances of making the Opening Night roster, there could be three (or four, if the Caps carry eight defensemen) roster spots open for a blueliner.

Bowey paid his dues to arrive at this moment in a manner familiar to many NHL-watchers. In his first full season in Canadian juniors (2011-2012 with the Kelowna Rockets), he played in 57 games (8-13-21, plus-3) and won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2012 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament. The following season he improved his numbers with Kelowna (12-18-30, plus-41, in 69 games) and won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2013 U18 World Championship. It was after that season that he was taken as the 53rd overall pick (second round) by the Capitals.

Bowey scored 60 points in each of his last two seasons with the Rockets, and in both of which served as captain. In that last season with Kelowna he led the team to a Memorial Cup final and won a gold medal with Team Canada at the 2015 IIHF World U20 Championship.

Then it was on to the Hershey Bears for what one hoped would be finishing school. He had a solid rookie season, appearing in 70 games an posting a scoring line of 4-25-29, plus-22. His 29 points led all Bears defensemen, and that total was ninth among rookie defensemen in the AHL. Then, a combination of youthful indiscretion and “gruesome injury” not two months apart sent his 2016-2017 season in Hershey sideways.

As it was, he appeared in just 30 regular season games for the Bears in 2016-2017 and in 10 of the team’s 12 postseason games. His regular season production (3-11-14, plus-6) was about on par with the previous season (4-25-29, plus-22) on a per-game basis, and his postseason numbers (2-2-4, plus-4, in 10 games) were an improvement over his 2016 playoff numbers (0-6-6, minus-3, in 21 games).

Odd Bowey Fact… In his last season with the Kelowna Rockets, Bowey scored more points (60) than teammate and third-overall 2014 draft pick Leon Draisaitl (53, but ok…Bowey played in 60 games while Draisaitl played in just 32). And he ended his career in junior by setting the team’s all-time mark for goals by a defenseman (58).

Fearless’ Take…

In his last three seasons with Kelowna, Bowey was plus-123 in 199 games. At Hershey he was plus-28 in 104 games. Sure, plus-minus, chicken-egg, was it him or the team, and all that… but good things did seem to happen more often than bad ones when he was on the ice.

Cheerless’ Take…

Yeah, well…let’s just hope he fares better than another Kelowna blueline alumnus picked in the second round not all that long ago…

Potential Milestones…

• First NHL game: October 5, 2017
• First NHL point: October 5, 2017
• First NHL goal: October 5, 2017
• First NHL assist: October 5, 2017

The Big Question… Is Madison Bowey ready for a sweater every night at the NHL level?

Simple question, but it has a lot in it. “ready” is really a lot of discrete elements. There is what fans might look at first – “skill.” The progress of Bowey’s numbers, at least on the offensive side of the ledger, certainly suggest his apprenticeship at Hershey is at, or at least near an end. Dig down, though. There is more of and a different sort of travel at this level. There won’t be three games in three nights on a road trip that he might see in the AHL, but there is the west coast trip, the trip to the western Canada provinces, the up-and-back intra-divisional trips to rival cities. Even if the travel, by economy-class traveler standards, is pretty posh, there is a lot of it. How does a rookie manage it? There is the self-management aspect. While players’ routines are rather regimented in-season, there is the matter of managing free time. Just the whole growing up thing any young 20-something might do. There is the long hard slog of an 82-game (or more, hopefully) season. Is there a wall to be hit by a player who might not have had so many games to play in a previous season?

None of these things apply to Madison Bowey uniquely. Any rookie would face them. But coming up with a team that might be expecting good, if not great things from him in a year in which there are so many openings on defense, they do seem to take on importance. Some of the factors cannot be evaluated until the season is underway and perhaps well into the cold winter. But this is a player who has played in almost 450 regular and postseason games over the past six years. He might be better equipped than most rookies to deal with the other factors so that his skill can come forward.

In the end…

A 22-year old rookie playing a hard position on the fastest team sport is not going to impress night in and night out. If fact, there is no certainty that Madison Bowey will be on the Opening Night roster. But as much as any young player with an important role to fill, it will be much more important to see what kind of player he is in March and April (or May and June) than he is in training camp or the first month of the season. What one can say right now is that he is better prepared than most to take the last step toward taking a regular shift as a defenseman in the NHL. For Madison Bowey, the “someday” described by Lincoln has arrived.

Projection: 66 games, 4-9-13, plus-2

Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America