from Alex Prewitt of the Capitals Insider,

The summer signings of Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik came with intended secondary consequences for the Washington Capitals, trickling down to the rest of the defensive corps.

The expected logjam at the depth chart’s bottom has somewhat been sorted already, with Nate Schmidt starting the past three games, John Erskine and Jack Hillen taking healthy scratches, and a host of once-NHLers returning to Hershey.

The Capitals also wanted to even out their blue line ice time, a difficult proposition last season given the league-high 14 defensemen who played. Now, with a top five defined from the moment Niskanen and Orpik signed their deals, the players see a welcome balance.

“I think that’s the luxury that we have now,” defenseman Karl Alzner said.

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