Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Capitals had a lot of success last season. A huge part of that was because Brian MacLellan did what George McPhee never did in fixing the defense. They signed Brooks Orpik and Matt Niskanen to long-term contracts. As someone who was avidly against the Washington Capitals signing Orpik, he did far better than I thought he would. However, last season there was always one concerning thing about the Washington Capitals to me. Why did Brooks Orpik get so much playing time with John Carlson?

Can Orpik handle first pairing minutes? Sure. There is a lot of value in that. Part of the reason that Karl Alzner had a career year and Mike Green did so well was because Carlson and Orpik ate a majority of the tough minutes, allowing them to face easier competition. However, what’s concerning to me is that Orpik limited the effectiveness of the Washington Capitals most effective blue line weapon (Carlson).

Let’s take a look at Carlson’s even strength rates. Stats are courtesy of Hockey Analysis.

Washington Capitals: Carlson With Orpik

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All things considered, not bad. Especially when you consider the tough minutes that they had to face. Obviously, the CF% should be above 50%, but it’s just short of it. I think Orpik did help Carlson a little bit. Carlson seemed comfortable jumping up in plays with Orpik. While he never did that with Karl Alzner, it’s worth noting that Adam Oates‘s system didn’t encourage defensemen to jump up in the offensive zone. Trotz’s system clearly does.

Washington Capitals: Carlson Without Orpik

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This is why the Washington Capitals should consider separating Orpik and Carlson. Yes, Orpik was the big free agent signing. Yes, Orpik managed to do quite well for himself considering everyone’s low expectations for him. That does not justify pairing Carlson with someone who Carlson is clearly better without. The Washington Capitals should go back with what worked relatively well for four seasons: put Carlson and Alzner together.

Even when the Washington Capitals were coached by Adam Oates, Alzner and Carlson were by far the best pairing that the Caps had. They were thrown into the fire, expected to take on all the tough minutes because of the Caps lack of other good defensemen (other than Mike Green).

All things considered, they did quite well. In a system that discouraged them from being better, the Carlson and Alzner pairing managed to find a way to have something resembling success. I’d love to see them have a chance to play together again under a system that is tailored to fit guys like Carlson and Alzner. They have amazing chemistry together. While Carlson generally had slightly better or similar numbers without Alzner under Oates, Alzner wasn’t nearly the possession anchor that Orpik was. You don’t want your best defenseman to be limited. You want him playing with a guy who’s going to help him have success. I think that guy is the new Alzner. Alzner used to be afraid to be active on offense until last season. I almost jumped off my coach the first time I saw him jump up in the offensive zone. I loved it. It led to him having a career year and looking better than he ever has on offense (and arguably on defense as well).

This would also allow Orpik and Niskanen to form a second pairing that would ease the burden off of Orpik and perhaps help him be more productive. Niskanen would gain the benefit of playing with someone who he’s a bit more familiar with. This would also allow Orpik and Niskanen to get more time killing penalties, which is something that both are quite efficient at doing.

It’s time for the Washington Capitals to let the best friends be together again. Come back Carlzner. We’ve missed you. We need you.