Washington Capitals: 2014-2015 By the Tens -- Comings and Goings

“All the things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams.”

-- Elias Canetti

The comings and goings in 2014-2015 did not occur as frequently as the departures and arrivals last season.  In fact, the roster movement of players in and out of the organization took place in a very small window of time, 48 hours to be exact.  On February 28th, the Caps sent defenseman Jack Hillen and a fourth-round draft pick to the Carolina Hurricanes for defenseman Tim Gleason.  The next day, the Caps sent second- and third-round draft picks to the Calgary Flames for forward Curtis Glencross.

Jack Hillen (35 games, 0-5-5, plus-1)

Jack Hillen might be the most star-crossed player for the Capitals in recent memory.  In his first season with the club, he last six shifts into his first game before he was knocked out of the contest (and for almost two months out of the lineup) with a shoulder injury.  In his second season with the club, he made it to the second game of the season – barely.  He skated three shifts against the Calgary Flames before he broke his leg on a check from Lance Bouma.  That injury cost Hillen five months of the season.  Then, in March 2014, he was concussed after colliding with teammate Alex Ovechkin and missed the last nine games of the season.

This season it was not injuries as much as the newly acquired depth the Caps had on the blue line that kept him out of the lineup.  He appeared in just 35 of the Caps’ first 67 games before being sent to Carolina where he (of course) was injured, a concussion that cost him the last 19 games of the season. It was unfortunate for the Caps, since Hillen was not a bad depth defenseman.  In 71 games with the club he was 3-12-15, plus-6.  His possession numbers did leave something to be desired, though.  He managed a Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 above 50 percent in his first season with the club (51.2), but he was well under that threshold in his last two seasons (42.9/47.4), and his Corsi percentage (relative) was similarly unimpressive over time (+0.6/-5.9/-4.6).

Photo: Elsa/Getty Images North America

*****  

Tim Gleason (17 games, 0-2-2, plus-5)

You might have thought swapping out Jack Hillen for Tim Gleason was a trade of a brittle, puck-moving defender for a sturdy, physical presence on the blue line.  You might want to rethink that.  Since playing in 82 games in the 2011-2012 season with the Hurricanes, Gleason appeared in 98 of a possible 130 games the next two seasons.  This year he dressed for 55 of 60 games with Carolina before he was traded to Washington.  He appeared in 17 of 19 games for the Caps, and his numbers painted an discouraging picture.  He contributed virtually no offense (two assists in 17 regular season games), which was not unexpected.  However, his underlying numbers were mediocre despite getting third pair minutes.  His Corsi-for percentage at 5-on-5 was 50.6, but his Corsi-for (relative) was minus-3.1.  It got worse in the playoffs.  He had one assist in 14 games, and the Corsi numbers were lower: 44.9 percent/minus-6.9 (numbers from war-on-ice.com).  Sometimes trade deadline deals catch lightning in a bottle.  Sometimes they drive you to the bottle.  This one was closer to the latter.

Photo: Kirk Irwin/Getty Images North America

*****  

Curtis Glencross (18 games, 4-3-7, minus-1)

Curtis Glencross once scored 26 goals and had 48 points in a season.  Trouble is, he did that at age 29 with the 2011-2012 Calgary Flames.  When he came to Washington for a pair of draft picks at the trading deadline, he was 9-19-28 in 53 games with the Flames, part of a declining trend in goals and points production from that career high year.  He did get off to a fast start with his new team, going 2-2-4, plus-2, in his first two games with the Caps.  However, he was 2-1-3, minus-3, over the last 16 games of the regular season.  That would look productive against his postseason numbers of 1-0-1, minus-5, in 10 games, including the moment when he became a Cap, and Caps fans had a feeling things would not end well in the series against the Rangers:

Photo: Richard Wolowicz/Getty Images North America

Fearless’ Take:  I got nuthin’.  I can’t make this vomit-covered Twinkie look like Michelangelo’s “David.”

Cheerless’ Take:. Ya win some, ya lose some.  Seems like the Caps and their fans lose a whole lot more than “some” and win a lot less than “some.”

In the end…

Let’s face it, the comings and goings did not have their intended effect.  Washington rarely goes for the big splash at the trading deadline, and they had no activity otherwise, other than those couple of deadline deals.  In a way, it ties the knot in the season that two deadline acquisitions should figure in on what might have been the worst single play of the season – the Glencross turnover in overtime that turned into a Ryan McDonagh shot that glanced off Gleason and behind goalie Braden Holtby that gave the Rangers a 2-1 win in Game 5 and started another “3-1 lead blown” scenario for the Caps in the postseason.

This is one aspect of the season that might best be forgotten.

Washington Capitals 2014-2015 Previews -- Defensemen: Jack Hillen

Jack Hillen

“Here is the rule to remember in the future, When anything tempts you to be bitter: not, 'This is a misfortune' but 'To bear this worthily is good fortune.'”

-- Marcus Aurelius

If there is a player who has endured more on-ice misfortune over the past two seasons than Washington Capitals defenseman Jack Hillen, keep the news to yourself. We don’t want to be more depressed. Hillen, who signed a one-year deal with Washington in July 2012, had to wait until the NHL and the players association settled their labor differences before he could take the ice with his new club at the start of the 2012-2013 season. There he was, though, stepping out on the ice January 19th – opening night. He skated five shifts in the first 24 minutes of the game. They were rather eventful, two of those shifts ending in penalties (one for each team), and a third ending in a Lightning goal. The sixth shift of his night was eventful in a different sort of way.

Vincent Lecavalier sent Hillen into the boards with a check that left Hillen with a separated shoulder that would keep him out of the lineup for the next two months. He finished the abbreviated season appearing in only 23 games, going 3-6-9, plus-9. It was a mere warm-up for how he started his next season.

Hillen, who re-signed with the Caps on a two-year deal the previous April, started the first year on his new contract by getting through Opening Night of the 2013-2014 without incident. It was the second game that did him in. On just his third shift of the game his right leg was pinned awkwardly against the boards by the Calgary Flames’ Lance Bouma. He sustained a fractured tibial plateau – a broken leg – that required surgery and five months of recuperation. He returned in March and played in 11 games. In that 11th game, against the Los Angeles Kings, Hillen was curling through center ice in overtime when he crossed paths with teammate Alex Ovechkin. Hillen is 5’10”, 190 pounds; Ovechkin is 6’3”, 235 pounds. Physics being what it is, Hillen took the worst of the collision. He suffered a concussion that ended his season.

It was not even the first time he suffered a serious injury at the hands of Ovechkin. While playing for the New York Islanders in January 2010, he took a slap shot by Ovechkin to the face, suffering a broken jaw and missing six weeks. As for last season, Hillen appeared in only 13 games, posting a scoring line of 0-1-1, minus-4.  The hockey gods have not been kind to Jack Hillen.

Fearless’ Take…

Let’s see… 3-7-10, plus-5 in 36 games. That works out to 7-16-23, plus-11. That’s not bad for a guy you would think of as a third-pair defender. It’s not far off his career 82-game pace of 4-16-20. He is a reasonably consistent producer on the offensive end on a lower defensive pair.

Cheerless’ Take…

He is, as you say, cuz, “a reasonably consistent producer on the offensive end blah blah blah.” Unfortunately, he is not consistently in the lineup. It’s not all on him, getting hurt and all, but 36 games over two seasons? After appearing in career high 69 games with the Islanders in 2009-2010, his games played has gone 64, 55, 23, 13. It’s getting where you might be better off counting how many periods he played, or how many shifts. And he was not such a great possession player in those 13 games last season. Eleventh of 14 defensemen in Corsi-for/on-ice; same in Corsi-relative/on-ice. His PDO (968) was second worst among those defensemen, which suggests bad luck, but hey, that’s just the sort of luck that has plagued Hillen in his two years here. Somebody owes this guy… a lot.

The Big Question… What is the over/under on games played for Jack Hillen this season?

That is as much a question that pertains to his relationship to the re-tooled roster as it is to his penchant for injuries that rob him of huge chunks of games. If the top-five are John Carlson, Karl Alzner, Mike Green, Matt Niskanen, and Brooks Orpik; and you believe that the 6D spot is Dmitry Orlov’s to lose (once he is fully healthy), then Jack Hillen is competing with John Erskine for the 7C spot. The odd part about this is that it is Hillen’s susceptibility to unavailability for long stretches that might make him ill-suited to be ready at a moment’s notice, to be “available.”  Circumstances what they are, the over/under might be the number of games he played last season: 13.

In the end…

Jack Hillen is something of the forgotten defenseman on the roster. Caps fans generally know the top-five, follow the injury progress of Dmitry Orlov, opine on the merits of a Steve Oleksy, Nate Schmidt, or a Cameron Schilling on the roster. But Hillen? Perhaps it is his quiet demeanor, but sometimes it escapes notice that he is still on the parent roster and might very well open the season as the sixth defenseman, especially since he plays for a coach with whom he is familiar.  Hillen played for Barry Trotz in Nashville.

That he has come back from two serious injuries says that his demeanor should not be confused with a lack of determination. Each was the sort of injury that could cause a downward career spiral, but he managed to work through both and seems to have survived his collision with the Russian locomotive intact as well.

The new beefed-up roster on the blue line is what will present Hillen with perhaps a bigger challenge. His resume does not argue for occupying a top-six spot on this roster, even if he is in full health. On the other hand, in the nine seasons since the 2004-2005 lockout the Caps have used between nine (2005-2006, 2007-2008) and 14 defensemen (last season). Even if Hillen gets only spot duty, there would seem to be a place for him on this roster. He deserves at least that kind of good fortune.

Projection: 14 games, 0-1-1, minus-2

Photo: Elsa/Getty Images North America

Washington Capitals: 2013-2014 By the Tens -- Defensemen: Jack Hillen

That's why I say if everybody went to heaven

Hey-ey-ey, I believe I'd miss the call

But you see if it wasn't for bad luck,

Trying to tell you son if it wasn't for bad luck, now now

Oh, oh, I wouldn't have no luck at all

-- From “If It Wasn’t for Bad Luck,” by Ray Charles and Jimmy Lewis

On April 2, 2013 the Washington Capitals announced that they re-signed defenseman Jack Hillen to a two-year, $1.4 million contract extension. On that day Hillen would play in just his 11th game as a Capital, having been signed as a free agent for the abbreviated 2012-2013 season but who missed 25 games to that point of the season with a shoulder injury.

Maybe the deal was struck so the Caps could get a season’s worth of games out of Hillen while he was here and needed two seasons to do it.

That logic (which certainly was not a part of the deal) would have been prescient given what took place this past season. In his first season in Washington Hillen did not make it through his first game before sustaining that shoulder injury against Tampa Bay. This season he made it all the way to his… second game.

Just 8:10 into the Caps’ home opener against the Calgary Flames, the injury bug (which must be as big as an Abrams tank) came up and bit Hillen again, ran over him in fact. The running over came courtesy of Lance Bouma, who rode Hillen into the boards on Hillen’s third shift of the game. Hillen crumpled to the ice as Tom Wilson went search-and-destroy on Bouma. Wilson and Bouma survived their scuffle. Hillen was not as fortunate. The verdict was a broken tibia, an injury that cost Hillen 60 games. He would not return to the ice until March 5th against Philadelphia.

Hillen lasted just 11 games in this stretch, the last of which was a home contest against the Los Angeles Kings. In that one, Hillen made it to overtime, but on his only shift in the extra session he had the misfortune of standing on the tracks when the Siberian Express came roaring through. Hillen collided with Alex Ovechkin in the neutral zone suffering a concussion and ending what was a miserable season, even by the Capitals’ standards in 2013-2014. As it turned out, it was not even Hillen’s first encounter, so to speak, with Ovechkin that ended badly. There was this in 2010…

As it was, Hillen ended his second season with the Caps having played a total of 36 of 130 regular season games, going 3-7-10, plus-5.

Fearless’ Take… OK, he had one point this season, but 3-6-10, plus-5 in 36 games? That works out to 7-14-21, plus-11 over 82-games. That’s not too far off the Rangers’ Dan Girardi this past season (5-19-24, plus-6 in 81 games).

Cheerless’ Take… Yesh, cuz, and at the rate he’s going he’ll get to that 82nd game with the Caps sometime in the 2016-2017 season. But even so, his ability to remain upright is maybe a bit better than his possession numbers. Here’s how bad it was, even in just 13 games this season. At 5-on-5 his Corsi-for percentage (42.9) and his Fenwick-for percentage (42.4) was worse than the numbers for rookie Connor Carrick (43.9/42.8). He was above 50 percent Corsi-for just four times in 13 games.  He had the worst PDO of any Caps defenseman playing in more than one game (968).  You would expect some correction, and there is that “small sample size” those fancystatters talk about, but geez. Can’t say it was a year for the ol’ scrapbook.

Odd Hillen Fact… In two years with Washington the Caps are 22-10-4 in regular season games in which Jack Hillen appeared. Might we recommend this to keep him in the lineup…

Game to Remember… March 5th against Philadelphia. In an otherwise forgettable game against the Flyers, the Caps found themselves down, 4-1, heading into the third period. With 6:35 gone in the period Alex Ovechkin gave some life to the Caps with a power play goal. Less than three minutes later the Caps made a game of it. It started with Troy Brouwer and Hillen breaking out of the Caps’ zone, Brouwer feeding the puck to Hillen in stride at the red line. Hillen chipped the puck into the Flyers’ end and went after it. He beat Kimmo Timonen to the puck and shoveled it along the end wall to Nicklas Backstrom, who returned it to Hillen in the right wing corner. Hillen stepped out across the goal line and spied Brouwer all alone at the edge of the left wing circle. Brouwer one-timed the pass past goalie Steve Mason, and the Caps were within a goal. That would be as close as the Caps would get, though, the teams exchanging goals before Steve Downie potted an empty-netter with 52 seconds left to seal a 6-4 Flyers win.  For Hillen, the assist on the Brouwer goal was his only point of the season.

Game to Forget… Really, having seen the season Hillen had, do we really want to go there?

In the end…

Being a professional athlete is in many ways a gift.  You get to play a game and earn a handsome living doing it, even if you are at the bottom end of the pay scale.  But someone, somewhere, owes Jack Hillen some good fortune.  Busted shoulder, broken leg, and a concussion in less than two full seasons.  A total of 94 games missed over those two seasons.  While he has been a reasonably productive player in his limited time on the ice for the Caps, he also is a defenseman who has seen his games played drop in each of the last four seasons, from 69 in 2009-2010 to 64 to 55 to 23 to 13 this past season.

Hillen has one more year to go on his current contract.  It has the look of a deal that provides value, a player who can fill in as a third pair defenseman productively but comparatively cheaply.  The problem has been that Hillen’s time in Washington has been characterized more by players having to fill in for him during long absences.   Such was the case in 2013-2014, and one hopes than having missed 69 games this season he can have a healthy and productive 2014-2015 season.

Grade: incomplete

Elsa/Getty Images North America

Washington Capitals 2013-2014 Previews -- Defensemen: Jack Hillen

Jack Hillen

Theme: “The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest are near to virtue.”

-- Confucius

On July 3, 2012, free agent defenseman Jack Hillen signed a contract with the Washington Capitals to pay him $700,000 for the 2012-2013 season. The importance of the signing on that date probably ranked somewhere between Dallas signing Jaromir Jagr and Philadelphia signing Danny Syvret.

Nevertheless, Hillen was in the lineup on the night of January 19, 2013, Opening Night of the delayed 2012-2013 season. The record would show that he stepped onto the ice for his first shift as a Capital at the 6:24 mark of the first period, lining up for a faceoff just after an Eric Brewer goal that gave the Tampa Bay Lightning a 1-0 lead.

Five shifts later, his evening was over, courtesy of a check by Vincent Lecavalier behind the Capitals’ net that caught Hillen awkwardly just as he was releasing a pass along the end wall. Hillen was crumpled into the end boards shoulder first. Lecavalier was not penalized on the play. However, 11:43 into his first game as a Cap, Hillen was out. He would miss 25 games and would not return until March 16th against Boston.

Hillen played the last 22 games of the 2012-2013 season and went 3-6-9, plus-8 over that span. Given that Hillen received largely third pair minutes and little in the way of special teams minutes (about a minute per game combined in power play and shorthanded ice time), it was a respectable scoring line.

That scoring line was even more impressive if one considers that in his first 12 games back from injury he managed to record only a single assist. Over his last ten games he was 3-5-8, plus-8, and had points in six of those ten games.

When all was said and done, he set career bests in goals and points per game (not counting the 2007-2008 season in which he played in two games). And, whether coincidence or his contributions as a depth defender, the Caps were 16-4-2 with Hillen in the lineup after he returned from his shoulder injury.

Fearless’ Take…

Hillen, either despite of or as a product of his being something of an undersized defenseman, is a meat and potatoes sort, not given to flash, but for keeping things simple. Among Caps defensemen appearing in at least 20 games last season he led the club in Corsi/on-ice, was second in Corsi relative (the difference between his on-ice and off-ice values), tied for the team lead in PDO (sum of on-ice team shooting and save percentages), was second on the team in differential between penalties drawn and penalties taken, and had the second best on-ice goals against average at 5-on-5 for the Caps (source: behindthenet.ca).

Cheerless’ Take…

Let me toss five numbers out there… 40, 69, 64, 55, 23. Those are the number of games Hillen played in each of his five full seasons. He has missed at least 45 games to injury over those five years (source: tsn.ca) for a variety of problems: foot, broken jaw, concussion, shoulder, and shoulder again. Durability has not been his hallmark. And whatever arbitrary standard you apply to scoring taakeaways and giveaways, his ratio of the former to the latter last year was not so good (2:13).

The Big Question… Is Jack Hillen a 50-game defenseman?

This could be an important question for the Caps because of the problems they have after their top three players at this position. When you get past Mike Green, John Carlson, and Karl Alzner, the drop off in talent and effectiveness is a bit precipitous. It is compounded by the fact that both John Erskine (the nominal “fourth” defenseman) and Hillen last year combined to play in only 53 games (roughly a full season’s worth in the shortened, 48-game season). And these are not anomalies. Erskine has played in more than 60 games in a season once in his 11 year career; Hillen has done so twice in five full seasons (though never as many as 70 games).

Hillen has averaged 50 games played in his five full NHL seasons. If that is what you can pencil him in for, then another defenseman – Dmitry Orlov, Tyson Starachan, Tomas Kundratek…someone – is going to have to fill that slot for a significant portion of the season.

In the end…

Jack Hillen is probably a better defenseman than he might be given credit for by Caps fans, perhaps a product of a low-key, keep it simple style. But there are durability issues that present serious problems for a club whose 4/5/6 defensemen might end up having to be filled by 7/8/9...or more defensemen over the course of the season. This is not, by itself, unusual. The Caps dressed 12 defensemen in 48 games last season.  Injuries happen, players are benched, kids in the minors do well enough to deserve a look.

Hillen’s problem in being able to stay in the lineup has not been a succession of nicks and dings, but rather having to miss big chunks of time. Nine games to a broken jaw in 2010… eight games to a concussion the next season… 25 games to a shoulder injury last season. He is one piece of a brittle and shallow port side of the defense, once you get past Karl Alzner on the top pair.  This is not something a team with playoff aspirations like the Caps can leave to a hope and a prayer that he will be a dependable and, more important, durable defenseman on the third pairing.

Projection:  55 games, 4-7-11, plus-4

Photo:  Jared Wickerham/Getty Images North America

Countdown to Opening Night by the Elements: Number 20

Fearless had to take a break from the exhaustive work that is winding through the periodic table, but he’s back to take a crack at number 20 among the elements and the Washington Capitals…

Calcium

If you look at all the elements that comprised our planet, calcium is the fifth most abundant in the earth’s crust. You would also find that it is the fifth most abundant element dissolved in seawater. Among all the metals it is not especially hard. It will react with water, but not especially vigorously. It occurs naturally as a compound (with phosphate) to form the business portion of human bones and teeth. As a compound with carbonates it can be found in limestone, chalk, or marble.

Calcium has had its applications for quite some time. In the form of lime it had been used as a building material going back several millennia. It was not isolated as an element, however, until the early 19^th century. That honor went to Sir Humphrey Davy, and English chemist, who might be better known for having invented the miner’s lamp that allowed them to work safely in the presence of flammable gases. Davy made the discovery of calcium just before Jöns Jakob Berzelius (a Swedish chemist…what a surprise), who was working with calcium compounds trying to isolate the element.

By itself, calcium has few applications – an alloying agent and cheese-making among them. But calcium forms any number of compounds with a wide variety of uses: cement-making, insecticides, ice removal, a sweetening agent, propellant for rockets, textile production, blackboard chalk, paints, fluorescent lighting, fireworks, and paints among them.

It is also a necessary element for living processes, such as muscle contraction, bio-electrical processes in the body, and blood clotting, in addition to its presence in healthy bones and teeth.

What we have is an element that is not the hardest metal we have in the table, one that has limited value on its own but that can be quite useful and diverse when in combination with others. Fifth most abundant element in the earth’s crust and seas. Sounds like a defenseman who might be a bit undersized, but who might make his contributions when paired with the right partner. Good enough to get the fifth most average ice time among defensemen in the 2013 season.

Calcium… the “Jack Hillen” of the elements of the periodic table.

Washington Capitals: 2012-2013 By the Tens -- Defensemen: Jack Hillen

Jack Hillen

"Each man delights in the work that suits him best."

-- Homer

If you stopped a Washington Capitals fan on the street and asked him or her, “name six Capitals defensemen,” you might hear the name “Jack Hillen,” but if you did, it would not be the first one…or the second…or perhaps even the third.

Those same Caps fans might not know that Hillen finished third among Caps defensemen in goals and points, finished third in plus-minus, was one of only two Capital defensemen with game-winning goals, and had the second best shooting percentage among defensemen.  He did it in only 23 games.  Seven Capital defensemen played in more games in the 2013 season.

What is perhaps more impressive about Hillen’s numbers is that he achieved them largely in the last ten games in which he appeared in the regular season.  His season got off to something less than an auspicious start when he lasted only 3:29 in the season opener, suffering a shoulder injury courtesy of a hit from Tampa Bay’s Vincent Lecavalier.  He missed the Caps’ next 25 games, then managed to record only one assist in 12 games after his return.

In his last ten games of the regular season, though, Hillen went 3-5-8, plus-8, while averaging 16 minutes of ice time per game.  Those last ten games reflected a change in pairings for Hillen.  Over the course of the season Hillen spent 90 percent of his 5-on-5 ice time split primarily between two players – John Carlson (53 percent) and Steve Oleksy (37 percent).  It was with Oleksy that Hillen scored all three of his goals and recorded half of his six assists for the season.

What is perhaps surprising is that among Capital defensemen having played in more than five games, Hillen had by far the best goals against/on ice per game, and only John Erskine had a better goals against/on ice per 60 minutes at 5-on-5.  He had more advantageous zone starts (only Tomas Kundratek had a higher percentage of offensive zone starts) and benefited from both better quality of teammates and lesser quality of competition (numbers from behindthenet.ca).  These factors moderate the defensive statistics somewhat, but Hillen could be credited with having taking advantage of those situations.

The “Southeast Division” effect seemed less pronounced with Hillen than with many of his teammates.  That might be as much a function of his missing 25 of the season’s first 26 games, when the Caps struggled (11-14-1 overall, 4-11-1 outside the Southeast Division).  Nevertheless, Hillen was 1-3-4, plus-7, in nine games against the Southeast and 2-3-5, plus-2, in 14 games against other Eastern Conference teams.

Odd Hillen Stat… The Caps were 16-5-2 in games in which Hillen appeared in the 2013 season.  He averaged almost three more minutes of ice time per game in wins (18:31) than he did in losses (15:32).

Game to Remember… April 9^th vs. Montreal.  In what amounted to a “statement” game for the Caps – the Caps had gone 22 straight games without winning a game against a playoff qualifier in regulation time – Hillen assisted on the go-ahead goal and scored the game-winner himself in the Caps’ 3-2 win over the Canadiens at Bell Centre.  The two points for Hillen gave him four over two games, the first time he accomplished that feat in his career.

Game to Forget… January 19^th vs. Tampa Bay.  Sure, it was a modest contract by free agency standards – a one-year deal for $650,000 – but there is still the desire to impress one’s new employers that they are getting value for their dollar.  Hillen lasted six shifts in his first game.  His first shift ended after 13 seconds when the Lightning took a penalty, and the power play unit came on for the Caps.  His second shift ended after 44 seconds when Vincent Lecavalier scored for the Lightning to make the score 2-1, Tampa Bay.  His fifth shift lasted four seconds when the Lightning took another penalty, and his sixth – and last shift for the evening – lasted 30 seconds until Lecavalier deposited Hillen into the boards, ending his night and putting him out for the next 25 games.

Post Season… In a sense the Capitals were exposed through Hillen’s production in their seven-game series against the Rangers.  He is not a shutdown defenseman, but rather one who can chip in support minutes against lesser competition among his team’s opponents and who can contribute on the offensive end.  Against the Rangers, Hillen contributed little offense – one assist and only seven shots on goal.  In one of the stranger playoff facts, Hillen was on ice for five goals against in the series, all of them in losses and three of them being game-winning goals by the Rangers.  The depth that Hillen seemed to provide in the regular season was not as evident in the series against New York.

In the end…

It is hard to know what to make of Hillen’s year.  Losing more than the first half of the season to injury while trying to find a place on a new team with a new coach is not the easiest way to make a living, but Hillen produced in the second half, and especially down the stretch when his health returned.  The post-season is troubling, though.  It raises the question whether the Capitals have sufficient depth on defense.  Not the sort of depth that a 7/8 defenseman can provide in the event of injury, but whether the Caps have it on the three skating pairs.  Injury did affect the mix, primarily Dmitry Orlov losing almost the entire season to the effects of a concussion.  But while a third pair of Jack Hillen and Steve Oleksy makes a pretty good regular season story, in the merciless cauldron of playoff hockey, it can be – and was – exposed just enough to help send the Capitals packing after the first round.

Grade: B-

Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America

Washington Capitals 2012-2013 Previews -- Defensemen: Jack Hillen

Jack Hillen

Theme: “Time is a circus, always packing up and moving away.”
-- Ben Hecht

Defenseman Jack Hillen put together a fine four-year career at Colorado College, topping it off with being named Defensive Player of the Year and a first team all-star in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association in addition to being named as an All-American. After finishing up his college career in 2008, a season in which he was 6-31-37 in 41 games, he found himself undrafted by any NHL team. He signed with the New York Islanders as a free agent after completing his NCAA eligibility and dressed for two games in his first taste of NHL action.

Hillen would play in 175 games for the Islanders over four seasons averaging almost 19 minutes a game in his appearances. In his last season with the Islanders he suffered a concussion and a shoulder injury that caused him to miss 11 games. He would not be extended a qualifying offer by the Islanders and was picked up by the Nashville Predators on a one-year deal.

He dressed for 55 games for the Predators in 2011-2012, recording a pair of goals and six points. But once more he found himself without having an offer extended to him. Enter the Washington Capitals, who signed Hillen to a one year deal at the same pay as under his Nashville contract -- $650,000.

It is an odd circumstance his being signed by the Capitals. Coming to Washington reunites Hillen with Joey Crabb, a teammate for Hillen’s first two years at Colorado College. Then there is his unfortunate experience with Alex Ovechkin. In a visit to Long Island on January 26, 2010 – a 7-2 win over the New York Islanders – Ovechkin recorded ten shots on goal and four other attempts that were blocked. One of the shots that was blocked was done so by Hillen’s jaw. Despite the injury that left him bleeding on the ice Hillen managed to skate off under his own power, but he did miss nine games. Ovechkin did not score a goal in that game.

Fearless’ Take…

One can never have too many defensemen. The Caps have not dressed fewer than eight defensemen for a season in any year since the first lockout and have dressed as many as 13 in a season (2008-2009). Hiller might not be a sure bet as a top-six defenseman, but he will get minutes. Hillen is not a big defenseman (5’10”, 190), but has a reputation as a good skater. He might thrive under Adam Oates more than he might in other systems, given the expectation that Oates will put a premium on pressure and that as an assistant in New Jersey for two years he saw the likes of Andy Greene and Matt Taormina, defensemen of about the stature of Hillen.

Cheerless’ Take…

Alzner, Carlson, Green, Hamrlik, Orlov, Schultz, Erskine…Hillen. Sure, it is likely that the Caps are going to dress something more than six defensemen this season (assuming that any dress at all), but an undersized guy who doesn’t provide much offense (199th among 297 defensemen in points) or physical play (187th of 297 defensemen in hits) is not likely to get a lot of minutes unless things go wrong. He was sixth in games played by the Predators last season, but you wonder if that was a product of Jonathan Blum and Ryan Ellis being on a yo-yo between Nashville and Milwaukee of the AHL, and Roman Josi missing 30 games to injury. Just remember, Hillen played in only two of Nashville’s ten playoff games and got less than eight minutes a game in them.

The Big Question… Can Hillen leap-frog into a top-six spot?

Hillen was a top-six defenseman on Islander teams that had modest aspirations and a lack of depth. In Nashville, his 55 games might have been more a product of circumstance. Certainly that seems to be the case given that the Predators chose to stick with younger options in the lower pairings than re-sign Hillen. The Caps have a more veteran group fighting for third pair spots (Jeff Schultz and John Erskine have 797 regular season games of experience between them to 230 for Hillen), which will make the contest difficult from Hillen’s perspective. If he has an advantage it might be that he could be a more mobile defenseman than either Schultz or Erskine and a better fit for Oates’ approach. But since both Oates and Hillen are unseen commodities in these parts so far, it makes for a fuzzy picture trying to look ahead.

In the end…

Given the way the Capitals roster is currently set up, Hillen will get minutes. How many might be more a product of what happens around him than what he can do to make his own case. Injuries and slumps happen. Mike Green’s availability is no sure thing, and Dale Hunter cut back on Roman Hamrlik’s ice time when Hamrlik was around for too many scoring chances through the middle of last season. At age 26 (he will be 27 in January) he seems to have reached his niche in the NHL, a defenseman who is in that 6/7/8 twilight zone. It is a place that is important for depth purposes, but it is one that will always have him on the margin of regular employment in the NHL. And the Capitals being his third team in three years, whether Washington will be a destination or another stop on the journey is unclear.

Projection: 34 games, 1-3-4, plus-3

Photo: Frederick Breedon/Getty Images North America