For three seasons now, the Caps have had the luxury of being able to ice a terrific third defensive pairing (behind top-fours that have met with varying degrees of success). In Barry Trotz’s first season, that duo was an underutilized Mike Green teaming up with an underutilized Nate Schmidt in the latter’s sophomore season to skate to a 54.8 Corsi-For percentage (CF%) in 313 minutes. (Pair data throughout this post comes via Corsica.Hockey)
Last season, Schmidt skated 343 minutes with Dmitry Orlov in that same role, and the pair posted a stout 57.6 CF%, good for sixth-best in the League among duos with 300 or more five-on-five minutes together (L.