What can Dylan Strome bring to his second year with the Capitals?
Last season was a bad season for the Washington Capitals. But there were a few positives. One such positive was the emergence of Dylan Strome, who the Caps signed one summer ago in free agency.
Strome was drafted third overall in 2015 by the Arizona Coyotes. He spent two and a half seasons there before heading to the Chicago Blackhawks. He spent four years there and despite a strong season with 22 goals, the Blackhawks chose not to extend him.
As a result the Caps got him and while it was just a one year contract his performance was so good it earned him a contract extension in the middle of the season.
He finished with a career high 23 goals and 42 assists for 65 points. He got plenty of looks on the top six including time on the top line which only helped him have the career season that he did.
Some folks thought with an aging Capitals core, Strome would struggle because Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat would no longer be on a line with him.
Those people forgot that Alex Ovechkin is good whether he is 17, 27 or 37. And the two of them clicked together.
While at five on five, Strome played 520 minutes with Ovechkin. He played 516 minutes without Ovechkin. He was on the second line in the beginning of the season but bumped to the top line as Evgeny Kuznetsov struggled.
His advanced stats included a Corsi For percentage of 50.38 percent which was the second highest of his career and also only the second time he exceeded 50 percent.
His Scoring Chances For percentage came out to 51.01 percent which was also the second highest of his career and only the second time over 50 percent. His High Danger Attempts percentage was 49.79 percent. Almost 50 percent and he had only one season above the 50 percent mark in that category.
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As the Capitals look to return to the playoffs they’ll be counting on young guys like Strome, who’s 26, to help take the pressure off the retirement home veterans. While the Caps didn’t get a lot younger they did get a little bit younger when they added Strome.