9 Shares Share Tweet Share Share Email

The Washington Capitals made one of the most widely-praised moves of the off-season when they signed veteran winger Justin Williams to a two year deal with an annual cap hit of $3.25 million. In the aftermath of the signing, a lot of attention was paid to Williams’ past playoff performances and his part on Stanley Cup winning teams. While the Capitals will certainly welcome any playoff heroics from Williams in the Spring of 2016, even Mr. Game Seven himself acknowledges that there’s a fair amount of good luck and randomness that has resulted in his “clutch” reputation.

Good luck and randomness are not the driving force behind Williams’ successful NHL career. He’s proven, over a long period of time, that his capabilities as a top-six forward in the NHL are sustainable. And there’s good news for a Capitals team that turned to Williams with the hope that he could strengthen their forwards corps: He’s played exactly as advertised.

One of the biggest weaknesses of the Capitals’ forwards last season was, other than Alex Ovechkin, their inability to generate shot attempts. After Ovechkin’s league-leading pace, no other forward on the team ranked in the top 120 in individual shot attempts per 60 minutes of play among NHL forwards. While Williams saw a slight dip in this area in 2014-15, the good news is that he’s returning to form in 2015-16.

Although Williams isn’t generating shot attempts at the rate he was a couple of seasons ago, his 15.05 shot attempts/60 at 5v5 currently ranks second among all Capitals’ forwards and 54th among the 363 forwards to have skated at least 100 5v5 minutes so far in 2015-16.

Williams started the season on the Capitals’ second line but spent a recent run of games on the third line alongside Jay Beagle and Jason Chimera. It’s become clear during his time on different lines that Williams brings a stabilizing presence to whoever he is skating with. Despite being outplayed for much of the season, Beagle and Chimera have continued to be deployed together by head coach Barry Trotz. However, their play stabilized noticeably during their time with Williams skating on the right wing.

Both Beagle and Chimera have seen a significant improvement in possession when they skate with Williams, as opposed to when they skate without him. Without him, the team gets outplayed when Beagle and Chimera are on the ice, as indicated by their shot attempt percentages being below 50 percent. With him, the team’s share of the shot attempts rises above the 50 percent break-even point.

Williams has been showing up on the score sheet consistently also, as he ranks fourth on the team with 15 points. His 10 assists rank second only to Evgeny Kuznetsov. Additionally, his possession numbers go far beyond simply helping Chimera and Beagle. His score-adjusted shot attempt percentage of 56.42 percent ranks fourth among Capitals’ forwards. He’s also seeing time on both the penalty kill and the power play.

The Capitals were praised by pundits around the league when they signed Williams not long after the opening of free agency last summer, and rightfully so. Williams has a reputation of being a responsible player capable of playing top-six minutes and also on special teams. The Capitals are currently bearing the fruits of this reputation being well-deserved. Wherever Williams is placed in the lineup, those around him benefit. Just over a month into his Washington tenure, Williams has already established himself as a key component on a team with championship aspirations.