Washington Capitals 2011-2012 Previews: D.J. King

D.J. King

Theme: “All things come round to him who will but wait.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

D.J. King logged a total of 90:57 of ice time last season. Only ten players who appeared in at least ten games logged fewer minutes, and six of them were rookies. That is the result of having dressed for only 16 games in the 2010-2011 season. King does not get much in the way of ice time, but his is perhaps the most difficult job in the sport. He is what once might have been called an “enforcer,” although in the modern (post-lockout) game, there does not seem to be much “enforcing” going on.

Among King’s class of player, the time spent in the penalty box for fighting majors rivals the time spent on ice (King had 30 minutes on six fighting majors last season to go with his 90 minutes of total ice time). But there were some odd and unexpected things that came out of King’s 2010-2011 season. For instance, among Capital forwards…

-- He averaged more points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 than did Eric Fehr (go look it up at behindthenet.ca).
-- He averaged barely fewer points per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 than Jason Chimera and… Mike Knuble.
-- He was third – third! – among the team’s forwards in assists per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, behind only Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin.

OK, there is that thing where he played only 16 games and 90 minutes, which isn’t much from which to make a conclusion, and the quality of competition he faced was last among forwards playing in at least ten games, but still…

“Hey cuz, the quality of teammates he had was worst on the team regardless of position, and I think that includes Slapshot.”

Thanks for pointing that out, Cheerless, but you’ll get your turn.


Fearless’ Take: You didn’t have to stop there. Here are a couple more odd facts about the season of D.J. King…

-- He had a higher percentage of offensive zone starts at 5-on-5 than every Capital forward except Marcus Johansson and Brian Willsie, who played in one game for Washington.
-- His plus-2.0 of team penalties drawn on ice versus team penalties taken on ice per 60 minutes at 5-on-5 led all Caps forwards who played in at least ten games.

Cheerless’ Take: Are you two done? He didn’t have a game with ten minutes of ice time all year; he had six with less than five minutes of ice time. In only four of his games did he skate at least ten shifts. He had one game with more than one shot on goal and had only six shots on goal for the year. He seems to be a player from a different age, a player who isn’t going to do much on the score sheet but who might have served as a peacekeeper, or at least an avenger.

The Big Question… Will King dress for more than ten games this season?

King dressed for 61 games in St. Louis in 2007-2008. Since then, it has been downhill in terms of ice time. He spent almost all of the 2008-2009 season injured, then played in just 12 games for the Blues in 2009-2010 before moving to the Caps and playing 16 games last season. Even with the departures of David Steckel, Matt Bradley, and Boyd Gordon that would have opened up spots on the fourth line, King is going to have problems finding time on ice. With the addition of Joel Ward and Jeff Halpern to the roster, there is still going to be some stability among the lines. And with the possibility of Jay Beagle jumping into the lineup, a fourth line could have Halpern, Matt Hendricks, and Beagle. Or perhaps Jason Chimera drops down to that line. If 16 games seemed like a light workload for someone the Caps traded for last summer, it seems likely he is going to get fewer games this season.

In the end…

We adhere to the notion that what King does might be the most difficult job in the sport. A player like Matt Hendricks, who is a player of more varied skills who happens to fight (his 14 fights tied for 12th in the league last season), is not going to have the fighting aspect of his game spotlighted to the same degree as a D.J. King, for whom an ability to use fighting skills is the biggest reason he would be in the lineup. King’s is a job that impresses us as having at least as much pressure placed on the player to “perform” as that placed on “skill” players. It’s just him, his opponent, and 18,000 pairs of eyes on them, plus the risk of physical harm. Frankly, I don’t know how such players do it. But whether they will be doing it much longer in the NHL is something to ponder, because the pure “enforcer” of the past seems to be fading away. The 18th skater in the lineup cannot be just a “fighter” anymore, and that means that King’s chances to put up those other odd set of numbers will be infrequent this season.

Projection: 12 games, 0-2-2, minus-2

(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America)

2010-2011 By the Tens -- Forwards: D.J. King

D.J. King

Theme: “Judicious absence is a weapon.”
-- Charles Reade

When Stefan Della Rovere was traded to the St. Louis Blues 11 months ago for D.J. King, the lede in the news report in the Washington Post was as follows:

“The Washington Capitals added a significant amount of toughness to their lineup Wednesday by acquiring rugged right wing D.J. King in a trade with the St. Louis Blues.”

King had a reputation for being a rugged (27 fights in 101 career games) if somewhat brittle (played a total of 74 of 246 games in his last three years in St. Louis) player. On his second shift as a Capital during a pre-season matchup he took on Boston’s Shawn Thornton, which elicited this response from head coach Bruce Boudreau:

"I told him earlier on: ‘You don't have to fight in training camp'... but he wanted to show his new teammates and the fans that he's not bad at his craft. It made the guys feel better on the bench knowing they had a big brother out there...that's the feeling I got. We never really had that tough, physical presence last year."

Well, that was the plan. By the time the 2010-2011 season was over, King dressed for a total of 16 regular season games, was waived once (in February), had as many fights as shots on goal for the season (six), and did not dress for more than four consecutive games at any point in the season. He did not top ten minutes of ice time in any of the 16 games in which he played and topped eight minutes only once. In fact, his 90 minutes of total ice time was about a week’s worth of ice time for the likes of Mike Green. He was 859th among 891 skaters in average ice time per game.

And to the extent you put value in such assessments, the polls at hockeyfights.com did not have him winning any of his six fights for the season (0-4-2). The Caps had a record of 2-2-2 in games in which King recorded a fighting major. He finished his scoring line at 0-2-2, minus-3 for the season. There was, however, a fitting symmetry to his regular season. He had a fight on his first shift in his first game of the season, and he had a fight on his first shift of his last game of the season.

There just aren’t enough games to look at ten-game splits, except to look at his games played per segment:

1st: 3
2nd: 3
3rd: 2
4th: 0
5th: 4
6th: 1
7th: 1
Last: 2

If the object was to “[make] the guys feel better on the bench knowing they had a big brother out there,” then the guys weren’t feeling better too often, except to the extent Matt Hendricks (14 fights) or Matt Bradley (10) were picking up the slack. And neither of those players could be considered heavyweights as the term is generally understood in the NHL.

The Caps took on King to be more than a fighter. As general manager George McPhee put it:

"What we see in this player is someone who brings grit but looks like he could be a reliable player. I remember Joe Kocur late in his career was a far better player because he gave himself a chance to play and actually held down a fourth line role with Detroit when they won a Cup. If we could add a player to the club who is gritty and can play, that makes us a better team. We think if we get working with this player, he can become a reliable player who can play a little bit more." 

Things did not seem to work out that way, and this isn’t King’s fault. When called upon, he answered the bell, and by appearances looked to be giving an honest effort as a player -- not merely a fighter -- in those instances in which he was called upon. It is not as if he was an unknown commodity before he came to Washington. And what’s more, he agreed to a two-year contract extension ($637,500 per season) before the trade that brought him to Washington. Perhaps it was more about moving Stefan Della Rovere. Perhaps it really was an effort to get nastier than the Caps have been. But whatever the reason, the acquisition of King looks to have had almost no benefit to the club, at least in the first year of his contract. One hopes Year Two works out better. Otherwise, one wonders if the Caps are employing judicious absence of a player with King’s skills, or they just badly misread the benefits of the trade.

Grade: C

(Photo: Nick Laham/Getty Images North America)

2010-2011 Previews: Forwards -- D.J. King

D.J. King

Theme: "This is ill-advised my friend, ill-advised."

The quote comes from Mike Rowe, the host of a television show, “Dirty Jobs,” and it might be what one thinks if any opponent takes liberties with any of the Caps on nights when D.J. King is dressed. This is the mantle D.J. King inherits as he comes to the Caps, holder of the “Dirty Jobs” portfolio. King performs one of the most difficult jobs in any sport. He fights. In four NHL seasons and 101 games played, King has spent 553 minutes on the ice. He also has spent 135 minutes in the penalty box as a result of having engaged in 27 fights. And it isn’t as if he takes on lesser mortals. Of the five fights he had last year, none of his opponents had fewer than nine fights of their own last season.

It is a hard way to make a living.

In King’s case, it has been a harder way to make a living in that he has played in more than 27 games once in four seasons (61 games in 2007-2008 with St. Louis). He has had to contend with some major injury issues in his brief NHL career, losing 39 games to a right hand injury last season, losing 81 games to wrist and a shoulder injuries in 2008-2009.

It is a bit hard to tell just what the Caps have here in terms of the player as he plays within the rules. He hasn’t scored a goal in the NHL since March 23, 2008. He doesn’t have a point since October 16, 2008. He hasn’t played as many as ten minutes in a game since April 1, 2008 (one of only two career games in which he topped that mark). The odd fact is that he has more fighting majors in his career (27) than he has minor penalties (25).

Fearless: What the Caps did, cousin, was trade up when they obtained King. They swapped out an “agitator” (Stefan Della Rovere) for an “enforcer.” And they swapped out “someday” (Rovere would likely have spent another year or two – at least – in the farm system) for “now.”

Cheerless: If he can stay upright, cuz. In the last three seasons he dressed for 74 of 246 games. That works out to about 25 games a year. How much enforcing is going on if he’s not on the ice?

In the end: One of the problems the Caps have had since the lockout (more early on than now) is that players have played at one rung too high on the position ladder than their comfort or talent level would suggest. Defensemen better suited to a third pairing pushed into first or second pair minutes and responsibilities, third line forwards asked to score. The acquisition of King repairs a similar situation in the policing function. Matt Bradley is a tough, gutsy individual. He has shown often enough his willingness to stick his nose into situations in defense of a teammate. But he is ill suited to the task on a regular basis. He just cannot compete with the heavyweights in the league, and even when paired off against “players” who take liberties, he has taken a lot of punishment.

Upon getting the news of King’s acquisition, Bradley said:

"He's obviously in a way higher weight class than I'm in, so it's great to have a guy like him here. He's a great character guy and definitely one of the toughest guys in the league, so hopefully he can put some fear in the other teams, where we didn't really have a lot of that the last couple of years."

That’s not a declaration of surrender, but a sigh of relief and a statement of fact. Bradley can do what he does without having to take on enforcement responsibilities, and King can take care of the policing function. At least that’s the theory. In practice King isn’t a sure bet to win a sweater every night. Bradley, David Steckel, and Boyd Gordon appear likely to start the season as the fourth line. King’s talents might be used intermittently, depending on the opponent. But he does bring a dimension to the Caps that was not on the roster last year. Whether that will translate into wins, or at least keeping other teams honest (and keeping his teammates healthy and upright) is the question.

Projection:

44 games, 1-4-5, even

King me!

On the last day of April, we wrote…

“Blowing things up based on the Montreal series – what appears to pass for a plan among an awful lot of Caps fans – is an option. It also happens to be a really bad one. One of the things that went wrong early for the Caps in this regime’s tenure was going for the quick fix, then compounding it by trying quick fixes to fix the quick fix (the ‘Snyder Syndrome’).”

Well, the Caps didn’t blow things up. They have not traded Alexander Semin, they resigned Tomas Fleischmann to a one year deal, they have said good things about Marcus Johansson and Mathieu Perreault, both of whom could end up with roster spots by opening night.

And now, from the “tinkering on the margins” file, we have D.J. King, obtained yesterday in trade from the St. Louis Blues for Stefan Della Rovere. King certainly brings a certain “presence” to the ice that the Caps have lacked. Need a hint? OK, look at these numbers…

2006-2007: 27 games, 1 fight
2007-2008: 61 games, 14 fights
2008-2009: 1 game, 0 fights
2009-2010: 12 games, 5 fights

He’s not here to provide scoring support or kill power plays. It is an interesting trade in that the Caps traded a future pest (of uncertain likelihood to reach the NHL roster) for a bruiser who can step into the lineup right now.

Caps fans are probably going to pooh-pooh this trade, that the Caps don’t need an “enforcer.” We think the term is something of an antique, given the state of the game today that places such a premium on skating. But the bottom line here is that the Caps, despite their impressive skill, were entirely too easy to play against, especially on the last two forward lines. David Steckel and Boyd Gordon are very earnest, hard-working players, but making opponents’ lives difficult is not their game. Jason Chimera and Matt Bradley can get their dander up and are the kinds of teammates you would probably want in that foxhole with you. But was either effective at policing opponents’ attitudes?

King, presumably, is the attitude adjuster that the Caps haven’t had. Sure, you could argue that for the three years Donald Brashear was here, he policed the ice effectively for the Caps. But the Caps did not get Brashear in his prime, when he was a passably effective player in addition to his pugilistic exploits. Brashear averaged about eight minutes a game for the Caps over his three seasons.

King might not get many (if any) more minutes with the Caps than did Brashear. In his entire career, spanning 101 games, he has recorded more than ten minutes of ice time in a game only twice. And there is the matter that he has not recorded a point since October 2008 and has not scored a goal since March 2008.

And that brings us to why he might have had such difficulty being productive within the rules. That raises another set of numbers…

2008-2009: 3 games missed to wrist injury
2009-2009: 78 games missed to shoulder surgery
2009-2010: 3 games missed to thumb injury
2009-2010: 39 games missed to right hand surgery

123 games missed to injuries over two seasons is not a confidence-builder if you are expecting someone whose role is to police the ice to actually be on the ice.

The acquisition of King is something of a response move. Look up and down the Eastern Conference, and you can find players who might have felt comfortable taking liberties with the Caps. In Philly, there is Daniel Carcillo and Jody Shelley. In Pittsburgh, Matt Cooke. In New York, Derek Boogaard. On Long Island, Zenon Konopka. In Atlanta, Ben Eager. In Boston, Shawn Thornton. Not that these players are ever going to get any ice time skating against the likes of an Alex Ovechkin or a Nicklas Backstrom, unless they are going off on a line change. But these players might be out there for some time against a second or third line, or might be out there to heap abuse on defensemen, the Caps’ version of which tends more to the skill/skating side than physical. The Caps didn’t have an answer for this kind of player, frankly.

Let's not over-analyze this (he said as he pushes past 800 words).  It isn't a big trade in the larger scope of things.  This isn't the NHL of 30 years ago, or 20, or ten for that matter.  Fighters play a much smaller role in the sport than they did in those days.  But that doesn't justify ignoring certain moves that other teams made that could place some of your players at risk in the liberties taken against them, especially if it doesn't cost much for the "protection."  In a way, the Caps traded an uncertain future (whether Stefan Della Rovere would ever become a regular NHL player) for an uncertain present (whether D.J. King can stay healthy). But at a $637,500 cap hit for two years (according to capgeek.com), the potential reward is worth the risk. When you compare it to the sorts of compensation others in King's player profile will make -- Boogaard getting $1,625,000, Shelley getting $1,100,000 a year, for example, King could end up being a bargain.  He will provide the size and orneriness that the Caps, frankly, lack. And besides, how can you not root for a guy who wasn’t a Cap ten seconds before responding to the news of Max Talbot’s description of Alex Ovechkin as a “douche:”

"Wow. I guess that's not going to be happening too much longer."

Here’s to your health, D.J.