Free Agency Deep Dive: Matt Roy
Washington's new matchup defenseman
This year’s playoffs served as a reminder that top-tier defenders—not just team defense—are still pretty damn important.
The Washington Capitals must have been paying attention. Determined to make the most of Alex Ovechkin’s final stretch, they’ve invested in their blue line via trade (Jakob Chychrun) and free agency (Matt Roy for 7 years at $5.75M AAV). While the former carries a bigger name, the latter is better at holding opposing forwards in check.
Here’s how he goes about his business.
On-Puck Defense
Roy is a hyper-disciplined rearguard. On one hand, this makes him quite sticky in 1-on-1 engagements. On the other, and unlike the league’s very best shutdown rearguards (e.g. Gustav Forsling, Jaccob Slavin, Jonas Brodin), he prefers to meet offenses at the rim rather than nipping them in the bud.
Therefore, he won’t single-handedly transform Washington’s back end, but his arrival certainly strengthens it.
The 29-year-old veteran protects the middle of the ice with a stubbornness and vigilance the Caps haven’t seen in a hot minute. Beyond his knack for containment, he’s (LA 3) a stick-on-puck machine:
Although Roy will deliver the occasional hit, the 6’2”, 210-pounder is a far cry from prime Brooks Orpik. No, he’s…technical. Wily. He relies on his craft (i.e. stick placement, pursuit angles, etc.) to disrupt opponents, timing, tracking and ultimately thwarting their release at the point of attack. He closes the gap when it counts.
Watch him dampen this Canucks rush:
With Arshdeep Bains (VAN 80) flying down the right wing, Roy stays in his backskate and secures the heart of the DZ to deny any thought of an inside cut. What’s more, he also smothers the forward’s shot by concealing his full reach, only extending into the firing lane once he feels Bains is committed to his bid.
A decent transition touch is downgraded to a faceoff.
Now, in outnumbered situations, it isn’t always possible to step onto shooting platforms. Sometimes, all you can do is sacrifice your body. Roy fares well in that department too, identifying the biggest threat on the fly and dashing his hopes from a distance:
While the Kings technically have players back on this sequence, Chicago is working an overload on Roy’s side of the ice. It’s on him to sort out the traffic:
After his drop pass, defenseman Kevin Korchinski (CHI 55) is unlikely to receive a return feed with such little momentum in tight quarters.
Nick Foligno (CHI 17) is running soft interference, so he’s more interested in hindering the Kings than obtaining his own opportunity.
That leaves Frank Nazar (CHI 91) as the trailing shooter.
Notice how Roy plays this close to the vest, giving up enough ground for the Blackhawks to show their hand before he slips the pick and crowds the frame in one fell swoop. Really polished stuff.
Whether he’s chucking a wrench in the gears or eating rubber, he excels at getting in the way. Unsurprisingly, this translated to excellent shot-blocking performance last season. He led Kings defensemen in blocks per game by a comfortable margin and ranked ninth leaguewide in that metric:
High block totals can often point to a blueliner who’s hanging on for dear life, yet a few of the players on this list (Martinez, Tanev, McNabb) have proven critical to their team’s postseason efforts. Roy is shaped from a similar mold, prioritizing and preserving the guts of the ice.
He surrenders a bit of leeway in order to guide you into a brick wall.
Off-Puck Positioning
Roy is indeed a solid on-puck defender. However, his greatest impact occurs off the puck. He possesses a well-tuned nose for potential pass recipients and will erase them from the action the moment he locks on.
In transition, he devotes his energy to keeping opponents in front of him and tying up their sticks.
Then there’s the goalmouth, where he truly shines. In contrast to his long and cagey stick work in space, Roy plays short and stocky near the crease, hunkering down to put the clamps on close-range opponents. Cross-slot passes are a decidedly low-percentage gambit against him:
The tape reveals a D-man defined by both alertness and restraint in the trenches. He’s ever-prepared to break up centering feeds. At the same time, he rarely strays from his patch of land. He grasps the value of the ice he occupies.
Given his strict do-your-job nature, good luck trying to pull him out of position.
I mean:
Following an exceptional backhand dish by Leon Draisaitl (EDM 29) high in the OZ, Evander Kane (EDM 91) is free to steam downhill.
Now look at Roy. Since a weak-side defender (LA 84) should deter Kane from slicing across and Corey Perry (EDM 90)—who’s built a career out of winning down low—is at the lip of the crease, the defenseman ignores the puck-carrier entirely and adopts a wide stance to claim inside leverage. He also buries his left arm into Perry’s chest, wrangling the forward with the loose puck at their feet.
Eliminating Perry from the picture enables David Rittich (LA 31) to dial into the shooter instead of wondering if Kane might turn a good shot into a great one. The old take-the-pass-away principle is embedded in Roy’s DNA, and it simplifies life considerably for goaltenders.
Even when he can’t avert a scoring chance altogether, his threat recognition allows his team to face the lesser of two evils:
Although most defenders would be tempted to flare out vs. Roman Josi (NSH 59) in transition, Roy clocks that Pierre-Luc Dubois (LA 80) is caught flat-footed and unable to stop the Predators’ most direct option (Cody Glass, NSH 8). He immediately gains the depth required to slow him down, then lifts his stick as Josi uncorks his slapper.
Once again, there’s no screen, no tap-in, no shiny distraction in the corner of Rittich’s eye, so he squares up to Josi and fights off the shot to maintain the Kings’ two-goal lead.
Build up to the telling moment all you like. Roy won’t chase after you. He refuses to budge from the good ice, deleting bumper and backdoor designs on a nightly basis. Thanks to that resolve, he conceded the second-fewest high-danger chances in the NHL last year:
His signing is thus a welcome addition to a club that ranked 22nd in that metric one season ago.
Washington’s system and roster are less defense-oriented than what he enjoyed in L.A.—which could hurt his numbers a bit—but he’s nevertheless joining a man-to-man DZ scheme. Because locating and silencing his assignment represents his comfort zone, Roy’s presence should help the Caps’ netminders breathe more easily over the next few years.
As an unheralded defender whose film doesn’t leap off the screen, Roy’s signing came with little fanfare. His game will probably slip by unnoticed too.
If so, that would merely mean he’s doing his job.
McClellan used to call him Steady Eddie for all the reasons you enumerate. He was quite effective paired with Gabrikov, and the nature of his game tends to hide the value of his low, hard point shot. The Kings will miss him, although his contract strikes me as a bit generous and I don't think he's a top-pair guy on an elite team.