Capitals center Dylan Strome will join the Junkies every Thursday this season, presented by CD Shanahan’s Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, and while the Caps don’t kick off their 2023-24 slate until Friday, Strome jumped on this Thursday for a final pre-season banter.
And within that, the Junkies revealed that the Caps, who are laden with key veterans like Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Darcy Kuemper in net, have eight players 25 or younger on the Opening Night roster – a category Strome, now 26, just misses!
“I don’t classify myself as that just yet, especially with some guys that we have on this team that have been here for, feels like forever,” Strome laughed when asked about his age and being a veteran. “But yeah it’s nice to have some young faces in the room, and some new guys that have had a good camp and played well in exhibition games. I think everyone’s excited to get started, and I think we got the perfect mix of some youth and some veterans, and guys in the middle. That’s where I kind of fall, so I’m excited to join these young guys, and also help the veteran guys as well.”
And that team will be working under a new head coach in Spencer Carbery, and even after just a short time under Carbery and one year under previous head coach Peter Laviolette, Strome has noticed a difference.
“I think they're just different hockey minds. I think, you know, Lavi is very north, south type of hockey, chipping the puck in and doing whatever you can to get after it, whereas Carbs is more about controlling the puck, don't turn it over or don't force it if you don't have anything,” Strome said. “Different kind of philosophies behind the bench too, with ways he's deploying guys at certain times of the game, I think, but obviously I've only played three games under Carb so far in preseason, so I’m looking forward to starting the regular season and kind of seeing what we've built throughout camp.”
Take a listen to Strome’s entire pre-season segment above, which includes thoughts on his brothers in professional hockey, how their childhood forged their paths, his projected linemates in DC and more!