Devante Smith-Pelly rejoins Capitals in broadcast booth this road trip

The Washington Capitals radio broadcast team will be joined by a familiar face on the five game road trip as Devante Smith-Pelly will be on the call with radio play by play voice John Walton. He noted that he’s “extremely excited” for the opportunity ahead of him.

Smith-Pelly retired from the game of hockey in December of 2022 but said that it was “just time to love it from a different angle.” This isn’t the first time DSP reunited with the Capitals as in February earlier this year he took part in a ceremonial puck drop prior to the Caps Black History game.

DSP is a hero in these parts of town as he was a key player who scored clutch goals in the Capitals run to their first ever Stanley Cup. When he takes his seat in the booth tonight he’ll notice a different looking Caps team as they only five players from that Cup team.

Of course the season started with six members from that 2017-18 team until Nicklas Backstrom decided to step away from the game due to his hip injury.

In addition to being part of the radio broadcast with Walton, which you can hear on both 106.7 The Fan and Caps Radio 24/7, DSP will also be conducting interviews for the Capitals digital channels as well as assist with gameday coverage on Monumental Sports Network beginning Wednesday. Smith-Pelly’s brief media tour concludes on Dec. 4 at the end of the Caps west coast road trip.

Smith-Pelly told William Douglas of NHL.com’s Color of Hockey:

“I’m extremely excited, I knew right away that I wanted to try it out and I’m grateful for the chance. John Walton has been great, we’ve talked a lot over the last couple of weeks on how he prepares … He’s the expert, and I’m just going to kind of read off him.”

Smith-Pelly is now 31 years old and is enjoying life after playing the sport of hockey but it’ll be good to see him still involved with the game. In that magical spring that saw the Capitals hoist the Cup after defeating the Vegas Golden Knights in five games, Smith-Pelly had seven playoff goals including a goal in three straight finals games en route to the Cup.

Welcome back Devante Smith-Pelly. We’re excited to hear you on the radio broadcasts as well as on our TV screens when we watch coverage on Monumental Sports Network. Tonight’s game is at 10:30 p.m. eastern against the San Jose Sharks.