Washington Capitals News: Dylan Strome is back in town

The Washington Capitals continued to get better on Monday at MedStar Capitals Iceplex as they got in a lot of skating work with informal skates. Dylan Strome would join Herhsey Bears forward Garrett Roe and South Carolina Stingrays forward Ryan Leibold as the newest to join the team for the on ice workouts.

Other Capitals that were represented per Sammi Silber of The Hockey News included Pierre-Luc Dubois, Matt Roy, John Carlson, Jakub Vrana, Alex Alexeyev, Vincent Iorio, Alex Limoges and Logan Thompson along with former Caps winger Anthony Mantha and other up and coming players like Ayo Adeniye and Eric Charpentier.

Silber notes that the skate started off with some drills and some two on two small area game play before things picked up with a scrimmage. Dubois continued to impress and as did Iorio and Roy. Adeniye is another name to watch as he's made himself at home in Arlington.

Then work picked up as the team skated from goal line to goal line to get ready for the infamous skate test that always begins training camp. Dubois was leading the charge. Vrana would lead his group. Alex Ovechkin is expected to return in early September.

In other news two prospects will lace up the skates for Team France in the upcoming days with Pierrick Dube and Antonie Keller being named to the Olympic qualifyer squad. France is looking to qualify for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina and Dube and Keller will join a strong roster.

Dube is fresh off a Calder Cup title with the Hershey Bears after he signed his entry level contract with the Capitals a summer ago. In 66 regular season games with the Bears he had 28 goals and 20 assists for 48 points. In the playoffs he added seven goals and 10 points in 17 games while fighting through missing teeth and an injury to help the Bears defend their title.

Dube also made his NHL debut and appeared in three games. Keller was selected in the 2023 NHL Draft and is coming off his first season of North American hockey in the QMJHL with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

The goaltender went 17-12-2 with an .897 save percentage and in the playoffs went 4-2-1 with a .925 save percentage. France will take part in the Group F final ice hockey qualification starting on August 29 and will go up against Latvia, Slovenia, and Ukraine for a spot.