Washington Capitals: 2019-2020 By the Tens -- Forwards: Travis Boyd

Travis Boyd

“I tell the kids, somebody's gotta win, somebody's gotta lose. Just don't fight about it. Just try to get better.”

-- Yogi Berra

At what point does “prospect” become “marginal NHL player?”  That’s hard to say, other than the usual “you know it when you see it.”  It might not be that simple in the case of Travis Boyd.  It is not as if Boyd came into professional hockey as a prime, prized prospect.  He was drafted 177^th overall (sixth round) by the Washington Capitals in 2011.  He then spent four years in the University of Minnesota program.  He spent two full seasons with the Hershey Bears in the AHL and most of a third before he got his first taste of NHL action – eight games in 2017-2018 (plus one in the postseason).  He skated a career high 53 games in 2018-2019 (plus one in the playoffs) before falling back to 24 games this past season (and another four in the postseason).

But here is the thing.  In 85 career regular season games, roughly the equivalent of an NHL season, he has eight goals and 31 points, and has a plus-17 rating.  These are pretty solid numbers for a player assuming a bottom six forward role.  This past season, one in which he went 3-7-10, plus-9, in 24 games, he finished with a per-82-game average of 10-24-34, plus-31.  The eye-popping number, though, is this: 16.  The Caps were 16-6-2 in the 24 games in which Boyd played.  They were 8-1-0 in the nine games in which he recorded a point.

Fearless’ Take…

Whether a product of his skill, being merely a good-luck charm, or sunspots, the Caps have been more successful with Boyd in the lineup than without him.  In his three years of NHL experience, the Caps are 58-21-6 (.718 points percentage).  Without him, they are 80-51-17 (.598).  Over his career, the Caps are 23-4-1 when he recorded a point, unbeaten when he posted a goal (8-0-0).  If secondary scoring is a thing, and if it matters (yes, and yes), Boyd has provided a measure of it in his limited exposure to NHL competition.

Cheerless’ Take…

Hey, here is another eye-popping number, cuz: 13.  The Caps were 3-4-1 in the eight games in which Boyd skated more than 13 minutes, 13-2-1 in the 16 games he skated less than 13 minutes.  And a strange number: 1.  The Caps had only one loss when he recorded no shots on goal (6-1-0).

Odd Boyd Fact… Travis Boyd posted a total of 96 career points at the University of Minnesota.  The same number of career points as Blake Wheeler of the Winnipeg Jets (okay, Wheeler did it in 21 fewer games).

Game to Remember… November 1, 2019.  Travis Boyd had one multi-point game in the 2019-2020 season, and the Buffalo Sabres were the victims.  He posted both points in a four-goal first period for the Caps.  Jakub Vrana opened the scoring just over six minutes into the game.  Less than a minute later, the Caps found themselves dashing into the Sabers’ zone on a four-on-one break.  Brendan Leipsic carried the puck into the offensive zone on the left side, where he then fed the puck across to Boyd skating into the right wing circle.  The puck spent almost no time on his stick, fed back into the middle for Chandler Stephenson, who deked goalie Linus Ullmark to his knees and lifted a backhand into the top of the net.  It would prove to be the game-winning  goal, but Boyd was not finished.  His second assist was a thing of individual beauty.  Taking a pass at center ice in front of the players’ benches, Boyd skated down the right wing.  Upon gaining the zone, he stopped, freezing a Sabre defender, and then skated down the wall.  He carried the puck around the Sabres’ net, and from the goal line extended, he fired a pass to Brendan Leipsic at the bottom of the right wing circle.  Leipsic wasted no time snapping the puck into the back of the net, giving the Caps a 4-0 lead at the first intermission on their way to a 6-1 win. 

Game to Forget… November 7, 2019.  When the team wins, everybody wins.  Still, when you are not participating much, that winning feeling might not be as strong.  Boyd skated a team-low ten shifts and 7:24 in ice time, a personal season low.  He did not record a shot attempt, and the only mark on his score sheet line was having taken one faceoff, which he won.  Nevertheless, the Caps pulled out a 5-4 win 17 seconds into overtime on a Tom Wilson goal.

Postseason… Travis Boyd dressed for four postseason games.  He scored a goal in his first appearance, the lone goal in a 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in the round robin phase.  It was the only point he posted in the four games he played.

Looking Ahead… Boyd is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent, coming off a two-year deal that paid him $800,000 a year.  He would not command a high price tag upon re-signing, but a flat salary cap heading into 2020-2021 makes every dollar count.  And, with Boyd turning 27 in September, and having had spotty appearances over three seasons, it is an open question whether the club will think he merits another investment.  Boyd has been productive in limited appearances in Washington, and he is the kind of depth player of value to a team.  However, one has to wonder if his future lies elsewhere, where he can get more, and more regular playing time.

In the end…

Travis Boyd is one of those players who has performed well at every stop but has difficulty breaking into that last top level.  In 113 games in the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, he was 23-39-62.  In four years with the University of Minnesota, he was 32-64-96 in 148 games.  In 217 games with the Hershey Bears, he was 53-113-166.  Not big time scoring numbers, but evidence of punch.  But whether his skill set is not quite enough, or he is the victim of numbers at forward with a strong Caps team, he has not been able to break through to claim a regular spot in the lineup.  As he turns 27, where he should be entering the prime years of his career, is time for the restricted free agent running out with this club?  As the saying goes, time will tell.

Grade: B

Photo: Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images North America

Washington Capitals 2019-2020 Previews -- Forwards: Travis Boyd

Travis Boyd

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

-- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

For some players, the path to the NHL from draft to roster fixture is no longer than a trip to the corner store.  For others, the roads are many and uneven.  Travis Boyd was a traveler on the latter.  He was taken in the sixth round of the 2011 draft, 177^th overall, right between winger Petr Placek right in front of him (by Philadelphia) and just before goalie Adam Wilcox (by Tampa Bay).  Wilcox played one game in the NHL, with the Buffalo Sabres in 2017-2018, while Placek never played hockey after completing his tour in the Harvard University program in 2014.

Boyd, on the other hand, made slow, steady progress.  After being drafted by the Caps, he spent four years in the University of Minnesota program in the NCAA. After getting a couple of games late in the 2014-2015 season with Hershey after graduating from the Minnesota program, he played another two full seasons with the Bears before he finally got a taste of NHL action.  What a banquet it was, even if the portions were small.  He played in eight regular season games and one postseason game – the series clinching win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semi-final.  Last season, in just 53 games, Boyd had a quite respectable 20 points, good for 23^rd among all NHL rookies.  His 15 assists tied for 17^th in his rookie class.  He appeared in one postseason game, going without a point in ten minutes in a 2-1 loss to Carolina in Game 4 of the opening round.

It is important to remember that Boyd was a rookie in 2018-2019. Even if he was the 16^th-oldest rookie among 207 rookies to dress for at least one game last season.  Only 31 rookies in that 207-member cohort dressed for more games than the 53 in which Boyd appeared, and only 27 did so for a single team.  That is not a trivial accomplishment for a team that leans heavily on veteran production in a “win now” mode.

Odd Boyd Fact…

Travis Boyd was a bit of a good luck charm for the Caps, who were 15-2-1 in the 18 games in which he registered a point. 

Bonus Boyd Fact…

The Caps were 18-6-2 when Boyd skated more than ten minutes, 18-7-2 when he skated less than ten minutes.

Fearless’ Take…

For what it’s worth, Travis Boyd is already 15^th in career points (21) among active Minnesota Golden Gopher alumni in the NHL.  Boyd had something of an understated season last year, one in which 20 points might elicit a reaction, “he had that many?”  Since the 2005-2006 season, he is the ninth Capital to hit 20 points in his rookie season.  The others…

• Alex Ovechkin (106)
• Nicklas Backstom (69)
• Evgeny Kuznetsov (37)
• John Carlson (37)
• Jakub Vrana (27)
• Marcus Johansson (27)
• Andre Burakovsky (22)
• Brooks Laich (21)

All but Burakovsky and Vrana went on to post at least one 50-point season with the Caps (Vrana had 47 last year).  That isn’t bad company.

Cheerless’ Take…

Travis Boyd started quite well for someone who got a late start (his first game was November 5^th, Game 13 on the schedule).  He was 3-7-10, plus-5 (averaging 10:24 in ice time per game), in his first 15 games.  He faded quite a bit after that, though.  He was 1-4-5, plus-1, in his next 14 games (averaging 10:29) and was 1-4-5, even (averaging 9:05 in ice time), over his last 24 games.  He had only one goal in his last 31 games.  Only twice in his last dozen games did he get ten minutes of ice time, and one of those was the season finale, when seedings had been set and the game had no bearing on standings.  His personal possession numbers did not jump off the page – 11^th among forwards in overall shot attempts-for percentage at 5-on-5 (48.46 percent), nestled between Nic Dowd (48.65 percent) and Andre Burakovsky (48.33 percent), but this was generally true of the Caps’ bottom six forwards overall as well.

Potential Milestones:

• 100 NHL games (he needs 39 to reach that mark)

The Big Question… Does Travis Boyd have a spot on this roster?

Travis Boyd comes with a cheap cost -- $800,000 this season, his last under his current contract (he is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent at the end of the season).  But there seem to be a number of factors combining and conspiring to deny him a roster spot, at least a settled one.  The Caps acquired forwards Garnet Hathaway and Brendan Leipsic in the offseason.  While both are wingers (Boyd is a center), and one might be considered a replacement for Devante Smith-Pelly, there is a bit of a logjam at forward, 14 players under contract on the parent roster, including Boyd. 

Combine that with the salary cap strain under which the Caps find themselves ($1,364,000 over the cap, according to capfriendly.com), https://www.capfriendly.com/ and the competition among the bottom six to secure a roster spot will be fierce, perhaps the story of September training camp.  For his part, Boyd presents a conundrum, a player who put up decent numbers, by the standard of being a bottom-six rookie in limited play last year), but he faded at the end, too.

In the end…

Travis Boyd has been something of an under-the-radar player since he was drafted in 2011.  Such is the life of a low-round draft pick.  Then again, he has come a lot further than his sixth-round cohort from that draft.  Only five of 29 other players in that round have played in more NHL games to date.  The flip side of that coin, though, is that a player in Boyd’s position, even in his upward development arc, is going to find himself in an insecure position when it comes to a roster spot.  That he finds himself among a crowded group of bottom-six forward candidates on a team looking to improve the all-around play of the bottom-six forwards (something of a problem in the postseason especially) and win now makes that situation all the more precarious.

Patience on Boyd’s part was rewarded with a significant role on last year’s Capitals team.  Now, with the competition he faces to keep a roster spot, he will have to add perseverance to that as well.

Projection: 39 games, 4-11-15, even

Photo: Patrick Smith/Getty Images North America

Washington Capitals: 2018-2019 By the Tens -- Forwards: Travis Boyd

Travis Boyd

“He has the deed half done who has made a beginning.”

-- Horace

The 2011 NHL entry draft was equal parts odd and forgettable for the Washington Capitals, with one exception.  The Caps did not have a first round pick, that having been sent to the Chicago Blackhawks in a trade for Troy Brouwer.  Second rounder?  Nope.  That one went to the Carolina Hurricanes in a trade for Joe Corvo (the pick finally settled in Calgary after a couple of subsequent transactions).  Their third round pick went to the Florida Panthers in a trade for Dennis Wideman. 

The Caps did have their remaining picks in the fourth through seventh rounds.  Two of them – fifth round pick Patrick Koudys and seventh round pick Garrett Haar -- never got past the ECHL level of pro hockey, and a third – goaltender Steffen Soberg – never played a game of pro hockey in North America. 

That left the Caps’ sixth round draft pick, Travis Boyd, the lone survivor of a four-pick draft.  Taken 177^th overall in that 2011 draft, Boyd spent the next four seasons at the University of Minnesota before graduating the Hershey Bears in the AHL at the end of the 2014-2015 season.  Boyd spent the next two full seasons with the Bears before splitting his 2017-2018 season into 61 games with Hershey and eight with the Caps in his first NHL action.  He got into one game in the Caps’ Stanley Cup run, the Game 6 overtime win over Pittsburgh that clinched the Eastern Conference semi-final series over the Penguins.

Boyd started the 2018-2019 on the shelf with an injury suffered in a preseason game and got his first action of the year in Hershey on a conditioning assignment.  He debuted for the Caps in early November and did so in style, recording a pair of assists on first period goals in a 4-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers.

After missing the Caps’ first dozen games, Boyd dressed for 53 of the last 70 regular season games and was one of 15 Capitals to finish with 20 or more points (5-15-20).  He was the good luck charm that illustrates the benefits of secondary scoring.  Washington was 15-2-1 in the 18 games in which he recorded a point.

Fearless’ Take… Whatever becomes of Boyd’s career going forward, one can be impressed with its beginning for its doggedness.  Perhaps that is a product of the foundation he got coming up – two seasons with the USA Hockey National Team Development Program before he was drafted, four years at one of the top NCAA hockey programs, and three seasons with the Hershey Bears, the flagship franchise in the AHL.  That he finished with 20 points in 53 games (0.38 points per game, almost as many as Lars Eller (0.44) and more than Andre Burakovsky (0.33) was a bit of a surprise, given that he was not an elite scorer as an amateur.  There is some evidence that he might be a late bloomer in this area, given he averaged 20-43-63 per 82 games in his stay with the Hershey Bears.

Cheerless’ Take… He’s a nice story, but boy, he is swimming upstream against a powerful current of history.  Over 20 years ending with Boyd’s selection in 2011, the Caps had 18 sixth round draft picks.  He is one of only five to appear in an NHL game and one of only three to appear in an NHL game for the Caps (Mathieu Perreault appeared in 159 games for the Caps, and Garrett Mitchell dressed for one game in 2016-2017).  There is something to be said for the solid grounding he got in his development, but he still finished this season as a bubble player who dressed for only one postseason game.

Odd Boyd Fact… Travis Boyd was one of only three players in the league this season to record 20 or more points while averaging less than ten minutes of ice time per game.  Winnipeg’s Jack Roslovic was 9-15-24 while averaging 9:45 per game, and Los Angeles’ Austin Wagner was 12-9-21 while averaging 8:56 per game.

Bonus Odd Boyd Fact… Boyd was one on only two forwards in the league to log more than 500 minutes of ice time and record 35 of fewer shots.  Boyd had 35 shots in 521 minutes of ice time, while Colorado’s Gabriel Bourque had 34 shots in 536 minutes of ice time.

Game to Remember… December 8^th at Columbus

After missing the Caps’ first dozen games of the season, Travis Boyd played through his first dozen games of the season in solid fashion, averaging half a point per game, a respectable number for a fourth liner getting ten minutes a game.  However, all six points he had came on assists.  In his 13^th game of the season, in Columbus against the Blue Jackets, he recorded a first period assist on a Dmitrij Jaskin goal to give the Caps a 2-0 lead in that contest.  Alex Ovechkin tallied with less than a minute in the first period to give the Caps a 3-0 lead.  When the Caps held onto that lead going into the third period, the competitive portion of the game appeared over, and the object was to play smart, minimize risks, and play responsibly, common ingredients in a recipe for road success.  

But there was still time for a moment, and what a moment it was for Boyd.  Alex Ovechkin gathered up a loose puck at the Columbus blue line and circled into the zone on a 2-on-1 with Boyd.  From the left wing circle, Ovechkin slid a pass under defenseman Seth Jones’ stick and onto the tape of Boyd’s stick.  Boyd wasted no time in snapping a shot past the outstretched glove of goalie Sergei Bobrovsky to record his first NHL goal.  A first goal coming off a pass from a former Calder/Hart/Ross/Lindsay/Richard/Smythe Trophy winner and beating a former Vezina Trophy winner.  It hardly gets more memorable than that.

Game to Forget… March 30^th at Tampa Bay

If it was a statement game to be played against the league’s top team in the regular season, the Caps delivered an emphatic statement to the Tampa Bay Lightning on their own ice sheet in late March.  The Caps scored three first period goals, held a 4-0 lead after less than 28 minutes, and withstood a brief Lightning rally before closing out a 6-3 win.  Stars were stars for the Caps with Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and T.J. Oshie each recording a pair of goals.  Travis Boyd’s record of the game barely registered.  In just over six minutes of ice time, his lowest ice time of the season, he did not record a shot attempt, had only one mark on his score sheet (a takeaway), and was a minus-1.  Winning makes everyone feel good, but it feels better when one has made bigger contributions to the effort.  For Boyd, who skated a team low 12 shifts, it was a night with little to remember.

Looking Ahead…

Travis Boyd is entering the last year of a two-year contract that carries an $800,000 cap hit.  He will be an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent at the end of the season.  How he begins the season will be more a product of what happens with other players, who the Caps are inclined and/or are able to resign from among their nine restricted and unrestricted free agents.  That he played in 16 of 19 games after the trading deadline and went 1-3-4 while averaging just 8:36 in ice time, and that he followed that up with only one postseason game suggests he is on the bubble as a regular next season or even a roster player. 

That the Caps have seven restricted and unrestricted free agents among the forwards hints at the potential for opportunity for a player to break through.  One would normally consider that a player such as Boyd would face some pressure from players rising from Hershey, but the likely suspects there – Nathan Walker and Riley Barber – are Group 6 unrestricted free agents, and Liam O’Brien is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent going into this off-season.  Since the Caps are at the 50-contact limit (source: capfriendly.com ) with some expected churn within that number, Boyd might be in a unique position to be standing on the ice on Opening Night for the Caps when the dust settles.

In the end…

Travis Boyd had a nice rookie season.  He finished in the top-25 among rookie point-getters despite only Los Angeles’ Austin Wagner averaging less ice time in that group (8:56) than Boyd (9:50).  The question hovering over Boyd going into next season will be whether his improvement in scoring output in the AHL and his respectable rookie season indicate an upside that is only beginning to be tapped, or if he is at or near his performance plateau, given that he will turn 26 years of age in training camp.  Still, looking at the 2018-2019 season, the injured start, and the role he was asked to play, it was a good season for the rookie.

Grade: B