As part of the build-up to the first-round playoff series between the Capitals and the Panthers, Japers’ Rink will be looking at some of the important Florida men and how they might impact the series.
Mason Marchment
#17 / Left Wing
Height: 6’4” | Weight: 209 | Born: June 18, 1995
Birthplace: Uxbridge, ONT | Acquired: Via trade from Toronto in exchange for Denis Malgin
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via @JFresh
Why you should know who he is: If you recognize the name, it’s probably because his dad played nearly 1,000 of the dirtiest games in League history. But Mason Marchment is making a name for himself as an undrafted (and traded) player who made The Leap this season, a campaign that included, well, one of the best games of the analytics era. Marchment has spent most of his time this season in a very effective defensive (as defensive as Florida gets, that is) third-line role, but has been effective wherever he’s been slotted. He’s exactly the type of depth guy every Cup contender gets a handful of goals from and you wonder how they ever found him.
How the Caps can stop him: It’s almost unfair that a team’s reward for surviving shifts by the Barkov and Huberdeau lines is a bottom-six sporting two of the ten best lines in the League by expected goals percentage, but that’s where we’re at (and why Florida is such a brutal opponent):
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via MoneyPuck
In reality, no one is focused on stopping Marchment and the third line, but rather on being smart with puck management and not taking any shifts off. The Caps cannot relax when Barkov and Huberdeau are off the ice, because that third (and fourth) line is dangerous as well, and the type that wins championships.