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The Washington Capitals overhauled their defence, by paying huge money to a pair of former Pittsburgh Penguins. Numbers Game breaks down the signings of Matt Niskanen and Brooks Orpik. The Capitals Get: D Matt Niskanen and D Brooks Orpik. Niskanen, 27, picked a terrific time to have the best year of his career, scoring a career-best 10 goals and 46 points while playing a career-high 21:18 per game. He was also a career-best plus-33, which is all well and good, but he was one of six regular defencemen (minimum 62 games played) to have a combined on-ice save percentage and on-ice shooting percentage (PDO) at 5-on-5 of 103.0 or better. An on-ice shooting percentage over 10.0% is difficult for any defenceman to sustain, but Niskanens 10.32% was the third-best of his career; basically, its the kind of good fortune that shouldnt be expected, but its not out of the realm of possibility from season to season for Niskanen. Where the puck luck really stuck with Niskanen last year, was that he also had a .928 on-ice save percentage during 5-on-5 play, so getting favourable percentages at both ends of the ice during the same year contributed to that strong plus-minus. That shouldnt diminish the evaluation of Niskanen entirely, though, because he has consistently been on the right side of the puck possession ledger, and that makes him an asset to any team that acquires him. While Niskanen hasnt typically played hard minutes, and in some years has been excessively sheltered, hes likely to face more difficult matchups now that hes the highest-priced defenceman on the Capitals roster. Signed for seven years and $40.25-million, Niskanen landed the biggest free agent contract of the year. There was probably an element of paying for the good fortune that Niskanen experienced last year, and it is a gamble that Niskanen is going to be able to live up to the money involved in that contract, but if a team is going to swing for the fences on a free agent defenceman, doing so on a guy with consistently strong possession numbers is at least a reasonable foundation on which to make that investment. Which brings us to Brooks Orpik, a 33-year-old who has made his bones as a physical, hard-hitting defenceman, registering more than 200 hits in five of the past seven seasons. The unfortunate part, however, is that Orpik in position to hit so much -- particularly in recent years -- because his team doesnt have the puck as often when hes on the ice and the problem with a defensive defenceman who is already on the wrong end of the possession game is that hes certainly not likely to get better as he gets older. For example, in the 2013-2014 season, there were seven defencemen that were over 35 and scored fewer than 20 points (as Orpik has in every season of his career, except one). Its an okay list, some useful players, but six of the seven were 35 or 36. Orpik is signed through his age 38 season and the only -- the only -- NHL defenceman that played more than 60 games without scoring more than 20 points last season was Tampa Bays Sami Salo, who has never played the kind of physical, banging style that characterizes Orpiks game, in part because Salo was always hurt anyway. This doesnt offer much encouragement that the Capitals wont have massive regrets about the Orpik signing; the only question is how soon will those regrets occur? Can he give the Capitals a couple of solid years, maybe facing lower-calibre of competition than he did in Pittsburgh? Thats probably the best hope, but its a longshot that the last two, maybe even three years, wont have the Capitals paying big money for a spare part on their blueline. Orpik is signed for five years, at a cap hit of $5.5-million per season. Big money, long term. Pittsburgh anticipated that they would lose both Niskanen and Orpik and, in addition to having an opening or two for some prospects, they also signed Christian Ehrhoff to add stability to their defence. Its entirely understandable for the Capitals to make a move to upgrade their defence. They allowed 33.5 shots per game, ranking 27th in the league, last season, so the defence needed to get better. Ultimately, the Capitals are better today after adding Niskanen and Orpik, but that should never be up for debate when committing close to $11-million annually to two players. What has to matter is how much better they are, whether the money spent is worth it and what the fall-out will be. The Capitals dont have to make any moves --- they are under the $69-million salary cap -- but they have $28,762,500 committed to their defence, according to Cap Geek. The only teams spending in that neighbourhood for their defence are Philadelphia and Tampa Bay, who have Chris Pronger and Mattias Ohlund, respectively, on long-term injured reserve. St. Louis and Chicago are spending in the $24-million-to-$25-million on their respective bluelines right now, so its hard to imagine that the Capitals maintain the status quo, leaving a hole at second line centre while sticking with the most expensive defence corps in the league. We will see what other moves the Capitals have in mind this summer but, right now, it appears that they spent a lot of money to get better in the short-term; signing deals that appear to have more downside risk because of the long terms involved. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. 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George Brett Jersey .The Ottawa Senators winger was relegated to a corner seat in the locker-room to allow Daniel Alfredsson to return to his regular stall one last time.CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Gerald Henderson didnt tinker with his shot after making just 31 per cent from the field in his first four games this season. "I started out the first three games horribly shooting-wise, but looking at my shots with Coach, I shot all good shots -- shots that I regularly shoot -- they just werent falling," Henderson said. That all changed Wednesday night. Henderson broke out of his mini-slump with a season-high 23 points, and the surprising Charlotte Bobcats defeated the Toronto Raptors 92-90. Henderson had made only 15 of 49 shots in the first four games since signing an $18 million, three-year contract in the off-season. But he hit six of his first seven against Toronto and finished 10 of 17 from the field. Bobcats coach Steve Clifford never lost faith in Henderson. "Everything he does on the floor makes sense to me, on both ends of the floor," Clifford said. "Hes a prideful guy and he wants to win. Hes not going to blow a set. Everything hes supposed to do, he does." Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 14 points to help the Bobcats win on back-to-back nights. They beat the Knicks in New York on Tuesday. Second-year guard Jeffery Taylor continued to give the Bobcats (3-2) quality minutes off the bench, scoring 13 points. Josh McRoberts added 13 points and five assists. Rudy Gay led the Raptors with 20 points. Jonas Valanciunas had 12 points and 10 rebounds. The Raptors had a chance to steal this one. They were trailing 92-90 when DeMar DeRozan drove the lane, but his shot was rejected by Bismack Biyombo and the Bobcats grabbed the loose ball with 27 seconds remaining. "I should have tried to be more aggressive," DeRozan said. "At least tried to make the ref make the call. Ill take that. Im kind of upset at myself for that decision, that I tried to kind of shy away from the contact." Toronto didnt foul the Bobcats on their final possession, and when Hendersons long 3-pointer hit off the rim there wasnt enough time for Toronto to corral the loose ball and call timeout. "Yeah, I was surprised" they didnt call timeout, Henderson said.dddddddddddd The Bobcats have won five straight home games dating to last season. Charlotte shot 75 per cent from the field in the first quarter to build a 32-18 lead. Henderson led the way, knocking down six jumpers in the opening 10 minutes, most of those around the top of the key. The Raptors appeared to be playing off Henderson, daring him to shoot. The former Duke star responded again and again, going 7 of 10 from the floor in the first half. "Our approach in the first quarter was very unlike us," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "We did not play the way we did the last three quarters. This is a great learning lesson for us. Never leave winning the game to the last couple of possessions." Charlotte cooled off considerably in the second quarter and the Raptors fought back to tie it 53-all at halftime behind nine points from Tyler Hansbrough and a pair of 3-pointers from DeRozan. With Kidd-Gilchrist on the bench with five fouls, Taylor and McRoberts picked up the slack in the third. After blowing a 16-point first-half lead, Charlotte got a boost from McRoberts, who turned the momentum of the game with a solid stretch that included a dunk, a 3-pointer and two no-look passes for easy baskets. The Raptors struggled at times with turnovers, committing 13 that led to 18 Bobcats points. Kemba Walker, who came in averaging more than 18 points per game, had a quiet night. He played after an MRI on his shoulder Wednesday revealed no damage from a collision Tuesday night with Metta World Peace. Walker finished 2 of 13 from the field for five points but said after the game his shoulder felt fine. "Anytime you can win a back-to-back in this league, thats never easy," Clifford said. "This is a good win." NOTES: The Bobcats played again without centre Al Jefferson, their top free-agent pickup. He is nursing an ankle injury. ... Henderson has scored in double digits in 28 of his last 29 games for the Bobcats. ... Gay has reached double digits in all five games this season. ... It was Charlottes sixth straight win at home against the Raptors. ' ' '