Can the Capitals get younger?
The Washington Capitals are the second oldest team in the NHL behind the Pittsburgh Penguins but their recent transactions shown they could possibly get younger in the future or at least be guaranteed to have a couple of youngsters on the team for the next couple of years.
On Friday they re signed Dylan Strome to a five year deal. On Saturday after the All Star Game, they re upped Sonny Milano to a three year deal.
Both players entered the NHL as teens but the talent around them on those respective teams that drafted them were pretty subpar. Strome was drafted by the Arizona Coyotes in 2015 as the third overall pick. In 2018 he was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks where he did well but the team didn’t believe he was good enough to receive a qualifying offer. This allowed the Capitals to sign him at free agency.
Strome has been on the top line next to Alex Ovechkin for much of the season and has assisted on seven of Ovechkin’s goals this season.
Milano was drafted a year earlier at 16th overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets. In 2020 he was traded to the Anaheim Ducks. He was a free agent this past summer but nobody picked him up, instead doing a professional tryout agreement or PTO with the Calgary Flames.
He didn’t make the final roster so he was up for grabs and that’s when the Capitals swooped in and signed him. Milano has been on a line with T.J. Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov for much of the season and has scored eight goals and 14 assists for 22 points.
Milano is 26 while Strome is is 25. This is the kind of youth re signings I’ve been talking about the last two offseasons. I was a big fan of both signings as it would give the Capitals depth as they had to adjust to no Nicklas Backstrom or Tom Wilson for much of the season until January.
Strome is the youngest forward on the team. Alexander Alexeyev and Martin Fehervary, both defensemen, are each 23. Looking at the roster the Caps have four more players under 30.
Those players are Nicolas Aube Kubel who’s 26, Tom Wilson and Anthony Mantha who are 28 and Charlie Lindgren, who’s 29.
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Now are the Capitals still old? Yes. But re signing Milano and Strome was big for the future as it could potentially keep the Caps competitive through Ovechkin’s final years.