The Washington Capitals acquired Nick Jensen from the Detroit Red Wings at the trade deadline to help their struggling defense.
In the 17 games prior to Jensen’s arrival, the Capitals’ defense was averaging 3.88 goals against. Once he arrived, the Capitals saw their goals against average drop to 2.55 goals per game. Moreover, Jensen’s biggest contributions came on the penalty kill, which was a moderate 79 percent before he joined. In Jensen’s first 11 games as a Capital, the penalty kill improved to 89 percent.
Yet despite his moderate success, Jensen never really lived up to the expectations that he could be a key acquisition like Michael Kempny was in the team’s magical run last year.