Upon reflection, Alex Ovechkin griped about the Washington Capitals meeting the Pittsburgh Penguins - arguably a matchup of the East’s two best playoff teams - in the second round of the 2016 postseason. It felt unlucky to Ovechkin, and likely others.
The Capitals can’t complain about one big luck factor, however: health. They’ve been insanely sturdy in 2016-17, and to some extent during the Barry Trotz era.
NHL Man Games Lost is an essential resource for tracking such figures. With the 2017 NHL All-Star Break serving as a natural stopping point, this seems like a great opportunity to drop our jaws in awe at Washington’s astounding luck in this area:
Washington Capitals have 18 man-games lost. Detroit Red Wings have 340. I'll argue they're in correct locations on this injury plot pic.twitter.com/67TJJAt8hD
— Man-Games Lost NHL (@ManGamesLostNHL) January 27, 2017
To give you an idea of how unusual that is, the Penguins hit 18 alone with Kris Letang. The second-luckiest team total goes to the St. Louis Blues, who are at 69 man-games lost.
Remarkably, the Capitals ranked as one of the healthiest teams in 2015-16, too:
NHL bottom 10 man-games lost
— Man-Games Lost NHL (@ManGamesLostNHL) April 9, 2016
30 NYR 93
CHI 119
WSH 126
MIN 141
SJS 152
NSH 173
PHI 178
DAL 184
CGY 196
CAR 198https://t.co/Pxnt5hlbuM
Maybe the Capitals feel like they can get more out of a player like Andre Burakovsky. And, sure, bounces go their opponents’ way in plenty of cases. Even so, this is a pretty unlikely run of luck.
It’s difficult to hatch many theories about why this might be happening. Maybe the Capitals follow the lead of their sturdy, constantly scoring captain Alex Ovechkin. He’s played 888 regular season to Sidney Crosby’s 749 since their rookie seasons in 2005-06. Ovechkin’s never played fewer than 72 games in a non-lockout season, and usually plays at least 78.
Perhaps there’s something about Trotz’s system that leaves the Capitals less susceptible to big hits? Maybe not whining to refs as often is good for the health?
Whatever the case may be, it’s pretty remarkable stuff. If they can stay this healthy throughout 2016-17, they’ll be that much tougher to beat.