Report Card: Cody Eakin

As the 2011-12 season has come to a close, the time has come to evaluate what it meant for the Capitals, both as a team and as individuals.  As such, as the summer progresses, I will be writing a report card, or individual evaluation, for each player who played in 9 (~10%) of the team's games, or 4 playoff games. Next up is forward Cody Eakin, who finished his first professional season this year with the Capitals and their AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears.

Season Summary: As many expected he would in his first season out of major junior in the Western Hockey League, Eakin split his time between Washington and Hershey throughout the season.  Eakin was called up a month into the season and played pretty much every night for a month before his lineup time dwindled in late December.  It picked up again in mid January, but Eakin only played in one game after February 1st, and it was as an injury replacement. Overall, the young center played in 30 games, recording four goals, eight points, a plus-two rating, four penalty minutes, and 31 shots on goal.  Eakin's corsi rating was -1.12, not good, but not terrible either, compared to some of the other numbers on this team this season. Grade: C
Role Play: Eakin was called up to be a spark, and during his first month in the Washington lineup, he was just that, recording two goals and five points in November.  But after that, he really cooled off, being relied more upon a checking role that he struggled in.  Overall, however, I would say that for a third round pick playing his first professional season, Eakin was pretty darned good considering all of the circumstances.  I didn't expect him to do much at all, and though I feel as though I was in the minority here, he didn't disappoint me. Grade: B
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