The other shoe is dropping for Rasmus Sandin in Washington; his last 3 games haven't been very good at all
It was easy to get caught up in the discourse after Rasmus Sandin started hot in his first handful of games in Washington. However, now that the dust has begun to settle, Sandin's true colours are beginning to show - and it's not pretty for the Capitals.
While Sandin does have 10 points in his first 7 games as a member of the Capitals, 6 of those points came over a 2-game span. He's also failed to produce a single point in 2 additional games, but that's not the red flag here. His past 3 games have been worrisome when it comes to the defensive side of the puck. Sandin is a combined -9 over those 3 games.
The other part of the Sandin trade, Erik Gustafsson, finally notched his first point as a Leaf last night, but what's been more impressive about his game is that he hasn't been on the ice for a single 5v5 goal against with the Leafs thus far.
Kyle Dubas caught a lot of heat for the Sandin deal. He dealt a 22-year-old former 1st round pick, who, at the beginning of this season, he called "a big part of the future" on the blueline in Toronto. While many in Leafs Nation viewed Sandin as a young cornerstone defenseman, perhaps his most recent stretch in Washington is showing us something that Dubas was able to identify early this season - which is that Sandin may not be living up to what we all expect him to. Getting out now, recouping an effective NHL defenseman and a first round pick in the process, might have been a shrewd piece of business.
| POLL | ||
MARS 18 | 852 ANSWERS The other shoe is dropping for Rasmus Sandin in Washington; his last 3 games haven't been very good at all Did Kyle Dubas make the right call trade Rasmus Sandin ahead of the deadline? | ||
| Yes | 628 | 73.7 % |
| No | 224 | 26.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
