Spencer Carbery is going to extremes to get the most out of a 40-year-old Alex Ovechkin. And the resulting methods have made Ovechkin the most uniquely deployed player in the NHL.
According to NaturalStatTrick, 556 skaters have played over 100 five-on-five minutes this season. Ovechkin is the only player who has not had a shift start in the defensive zone. The next closest skater is Nashville Predators forward Fedor Svechkov, who has started four shifts in his own end.
Ovechkin’s primary centerman, Dylan Strome, has also been aggressively deployed, getting only five defensive-zone starts, which is tied for the third-least in the league.
The 58 offensive-zone starts Ovechkin has received from Carbery lead the Capitals and rank fifth most in the NHL, behind only Nazem Kadri (62), Morgan Rielly (60), Kirill Kaprizov (60), and Tim Stutzle (59). Two of Ovechkin’s three goals this season have also come off set plays after offensive zone faceoffs.
Players with the fewest five-on-five defensive-zone starts this season (min. 100 TOI)
Player
5v5 TOI
D-zone starts
Alex Ovechkin (WSH)
184:36
0
Fedor Svechkov (NSH)
163:25
4
Zayne Parekh (CGY)
126:18
5
Max Sasson (VAN)
133:06
5
Justin Brazeau (PIT)
150:43
5
Dylan Strome (WSH)
165:34
5
Anthony Mantha (PIT)
227:21
5
Corey Perry (LAK)
114:55
6
Matthew Wood (NSH)
105:33
6
Many of the players in the bottom 30 of defensive-zone starts come from the same teams, suggesting that their deployment is a deliberate strategy by their respective head coaches. The Washington Capitals (2), Los Angeles Kings (2), Ottawa Senators (2), Carolina Hurricanes (2), Philadelphia Flyers (3), Nashville Predators (3), Vancouver Canucks (3), and Pittsburgh Penguins (4) all have multiple players in that bottom 30.
Carbery has previously been open about the reasoning behind his sheltered deployment of Ovechkin, who is in the twilight of his career. While a lot of it has to do with maximizing Ovechkin’s minutes and playing to his offensive strengths, Carbery has said he also just wants to keep the legendary winger fresh for what is a very long 82-game campaign.
“The physical part is one part, but the other part is mentally having to stay in that game right to the buzzer, every single night,” Carbery said last year. “So, you do that for three months, and it takes a toll on you, and Ovi isn’t 28 years old anymore. He’s a veteran player, and we asked a lot of him. I put a lot on him as our captain.”
To Carbery and Ovechkin’s credit, the team has dominated in possession during the veteran forward’s five-on-five minutes this season. With Ovechkin on the ice, the Capitals have owned 53.8 percent of shot attempts, 60.5 percent of expected goals, 58.5 percent of scoring chances, and 58.9 percent of high-danger chances.
The positive play has only gotten better since Carbery reunited Ovechkin and Strome with winger Anthony Beauvillier, a combination that proved fruitful for the club during last spring’s postseason. Per MoneyPuck, the line has the best expected goals percentage in the NHL (70.8 percent) among all lines with at least 75 five-on-five minutes played together.
📸: Ovechkin is off to a slow start in counting stats, posting just 10 points (3g, 7a) through 15 games, but there are signs that the league’s all-time leading goal scorer is more unlucky than in massive decline. Ovechkin regularly outperforms his individual expected goals each year, doing so, per MoneyPuck, by a full 13 goals last year. He has recorded five individual expected goals this season, but has only scored three.
It suggests that Carbery’s unique deployment of the Capitals’ superstar is working and should lead to more goals soon.