Brian Pothier...Go Fall in A Volcano!

I spend a lot of time perusing the Washington Capital's Message Boards and was stunned to find a thread entitled "Brian Pothier Go Fall in a volcano." I was surprised that the fan base was being so cruel towards one of our better defensemen. At $2.5 million a year, Pothier was brought in to be a stable point man on the Power Play and to solidify the back line. While he didn't do so last year, it can largely be attributed to a significant jump in his minutes, causing him to get overtired. I hoped that I could show that Pothier, now playing less minutes (15:55 per game, 13th on the team) his production would rise. But just 5 games into the season, the signs don't look good.

• Pothier has only recorded 2, count 'em, 2 hits in 5 games. Ahead of him are, of course, hitting machines like Donald Brashear, Alex Ovechkin and John Erskine. But also ahead of him are some not known as much for their physical play: Matt Pettinger, Mike Green and Viktor Kozlov. To put it in perspective, Joe Motzko and Brian Sutherby, who have each played 1 game, have as many hits as does Pothier.
• Brian Pothier has also only blocked 3 shots. Ahead of him are the defensive-minded Milan Jurcina (10) and Shaone Morrisonn (5), as well as new addition Tom Poti (9). But Pothier is last in terms of defensemen with blocked shots.
• But Pothier does lead the team in one category...giveaways. He has 6 on the season, 2 more than anyone else on the team (John Erskine and Tom Poti have 4 each).
  
• Luckily, Pothier doesn't hold the distinction of being the worst defenseman in terms of takeaways...Poti holds that honor (Pothier has 2, Poti has 1).
• There are 4 defensemen who consistently play on the Power Play: Pothier, Poti, Jurcina and Green. EACH of the others have at least 1 PP point.
  

So there you have it. It may be early in the season and this is a correctable problem, but Pothier must improve from his horrific last season and current start if he wants a shot at winning the hearts of Caps fans. Until then BP...avoid Hawaii. A stray Caps fan might push you over the edge.