30 Caps in 30 Days: Eric Belanger

During the thirty days of September, I'll be trying to preview the seasons of thirty players currently under contract with the Washington Capitals and who have a good chance of spending some time in red, white, and blue this season. Advanced stats are given from behindthenet.ca ranked against other players at the same position, in the same organization, at 5-on-5, unless otherwise noted. Age is on opening night. Today, Eric Belanger)

(Photo courtesy Caps Snaps)

Eric Belanger: age 32, 6'0", 185 pounds, shoots left.
Contract: $1.85 million, UFA in 2011. Although he's officially a free agent, James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail stated he is 100% certain that Belanger will be signed by the Capitals.
2009-2010 linemates: 23% Brooks Laich and Alexander Semin, 12% Jason Chimera and Eric Fehr, 11% Eric Fehr and Tomas Fleischmann
2010 playoff linemates: 22% Tomas Fleischmann and Alexander Semin, 21% Jason Chimera and Eric Fehr, 14% Matt Bradley and Jason Chimera

2009-2010 raw stats:
NHL: 17 GP, 2-4-6, +3, 31 shots, 4 PIM (Capitals); 77 GP, 15-26-41, +2, 151 shots, 32 PIM
Playoffs: 7 GP, 0-1-1, +0, 6 shots, 4 PIM

2009-2010 advanced stats: 2nd in Corsi QoC, 2nd in Corsi Rel QoC, 10th (last) in Corsi QoT, and 4th in Corsi Rel QoT. Zonestart 44.4% offensive zone (second-to-last) with Zonefinish 46.3% offensive zone (second-to-last).
2010 playoffs advanced stats: 2nd in Corsi QoC, 1st in Corsi Rel QoC, 5th (second-to-last) in Corsi QoT, and 4th in Corsi Rel QoT.