Here's how Rasmus Sandin shut down Jack Eichel
With injuries to the Caps blue line, Rasmus Sandin has spent some time on the Caps penalty kill in recent weeks. Although Sandin’s time on the PK unit time seems to be over with most Caps defenders healthy now, the results were good enough that the coaching staff should consider giving him more minutes at 4v5.
Translation: The Caps PK without Sandin gives up 4 percent fewer xGoals/60 compared to the league average, and with Sandin they give up 22 percent fewer xGoals/60 compared to the league average.
All kinds of things could factor into this, such as quality of competition, quality of teammates, systems, and small sample size. But at the very least, Sandin has performed like a guy who should get a longer look on the PK.
I went back and watched Sandin’s PK shifts this season. Since it was only 8 minutes of ice time, I was curious if I’d notice anything specific Sandin did that helped the Caps limit opponent PP chances when he was on the ice.
What I saw was Sandin’s skating ability on full display. He quickly closes gaps, he recovers faster than most players, and overall was an asset to the PK unit. But something a little more micro caught my eye than his overall impact on the PK unit, and that’s what I want to focus on for this post. That something?
Rasmus Sandin totally owned Jack Eichel during the Caps’ penalty kill in the recent game vs Vegas.
LET’S ROLL SOME CLIPS
In the first clip you’ll see Eichel dance through two Caps and come into the zone, with speed and space, 1v1 on Sandin. How does it end? With Eichel pulling up, opting not to challenge Sandin 1v1, and then firing a shot that Sandin blocks.
Let me again state how this started: one of the best players in the world came at Sandin, with speed, and the play ended with this elite player taking a shot from a fairly harmless area on the ice, and Sandin blocking that shot. For effect, here’s a freeze frame of how it looked when Eichel was bearing down on Sandin.
PP threat from Eichel: diffused.
Later in the same shift, Vegas is able to get Eichel the puck with a ton of open ice in front of him. Here’s Eichel with the puck, and look how far away Sandin is, and how much space Eichel has to create.
This looks like it won’t end well for the Caps. After all, Sandin and Eichel are separated by, approximately, the Gulf of Mexico. Eichel has ample room to come in and rip a shot or do something more fancy. But guess what…this ends with Sandin closing the gap and then blocking Eichel’s shot.
ROLL THE CLIP
What a play by Sandin. Faced with an elite player given all kinds of space, he calmly closes the gap and forces Eichel into a bad pass.
These are just two examples of the solid work Sandin put in during his time on the PK. If I were on the Caps coaching staff (I’m not), I’d be giving Sandin more chances on the PK so he can keep dominating superstars like Eichel.
This is great work, Pat. Really enjoyed this.