By all accounts it was an improvement in performance for Green, who was on the ice for more shot attempts as a percentage of the total than he has been since that 2009-10 campaign.

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The biggest improvement? Hopping over the boards on a line change against the opposition’s best forwards.

When Green was sent on the ice without the benefit of a faceoff, the Capitals saw 61.3 percent of the even-strength shot attempts in their favor when the opposition had at least one top-six forward (a forward who averages over 14 minutes per game and 1.8 points per 60 minutes at even strength) on the ice. His previous high was 58.5 percent in his injury-plagued 2010-11 season.

So why are fans and pundits alike looking at this season as a continuation of his downturn? Jack Hillen.

Oates sent out the defensive pair of Hillen-Green for 38 “open play” shifts (no faceoffs) and they managed to break even against lines they faced with at least one top-six forward. However, in the 31 shifts where they lined up for a defensive zone draw against a line with at least one top-six forward they were out attempted 12 to 1 (8.3 percent of the attempts). Small sample size caveats apply, but anytime the opposition’s best is outshooting you 12 to 1 on the ice in their own zone bad things will happen.

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So what’s the answer? Less Hillen, more Dmitry Orlov.

Orlov and Green shared 37 shifts where they took a faceoff in the defensive zone against a line with at least one top-six forward and held their own, putting 46.7 percent of the even-strength shot attempts in their favor. When they were matched up in the offensive zone against a line with at least one top-six forward they were not on the ice for a single even-strength shot attempt against (10 for, zero against). Hillen and Green managed just over a third of their team’s shot attempts (37.5 percent) in those same circumstances.