Boone Jenner
Jenner is a physical, penalty-kill-heavy depth forward who was on the second line through at least October 20, and who appears to have been bumped down when Pierre-Luc Dubois returned to the lineup.
Role
Through the Oct 20 game against the Kings, Daily Faceoff-sourced projections (5V5 Hockey, Inside the Rink) had Jenner at center on line 2 between Aliaksei Protas and Tom Wilson. Dobber's Frozen Tools logged that trio for 8:25 of even-strength time on Oct 20 and 9:09 on Oct 17. I fetched Daily Faceoff's Capitals page, last updated Oct 25 after the Oct 24 game against Buffalo. The page's text extraction has no line labels. Read in order, the forwards put Jenner on the fourth line with Justin Sourdif and Ryan Leonard, and Dubois back between Aliaksei Protas and Wilson. That is my reading of the name order, not a labeled line, so confirm it before relying on it. The page does list Jenner on the second penalty-kill unit. He is on neither power-play unit. Frozen Tools showed him killing penalties with Wilson on Oct 17, with 3:04 of shorthanded time at about 42% of that game's shorthanded minutes. Competition for the middle slots comes from Dubois, Strome, Ilya Protas and Sourdif. Sourdif is a center, and at camp Jenner was running at center or left wing on the fourth line.
Coach Carbery called him versatile in a preseason Yahoo Sports piece: he can play any position, move up and down the lineup, and log heavy minutes. He signed a four-year, $23 million deal, so the club is invested in him. Any injury or slump among the top-six forwards could put him back beside Wilson, where he scored on Oct 20. He also has a steady penalty-kill role and plays a physical, shot-heavy game. Last season's 25 shots on goal in 10 games are our only usage data.
If the Oct 25 Daily Faceoff alignment is right, he is back on the fourth line with Dubois healthy. That means about 14 to 15 minutes in the role Carbery described for the bottom six, no power-play time and little scoring support. Last season's 0 power-play points, 4 goals and 1 assist in 10 games, and his age of 33, add to the worry. On Oct 17 and Oct 20 his line was outshot at even strength in the Frozen Tools tables.
Where analysts split
The open question is whether Jenner stays a fourth-line, penalty-kill forward or moves back to the second line. Early-season projections kept him on line 2 with Wilson while Dubois was out. The Oct 25 page appears to have Dubois back, which would push him down. I found no beat writer or Athletic piece arguing either side, so this is a reading of line data, not a debate among analysts.
Research confidence: thin. Outlooks are grounded in web search over current reporting and refreshed through the season.
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