Newest Capitals Strome, Brown Arrive In D.C., Join Informal Skates

With training camp quickly approaching, the Washington Capitals saw two of their newest offseason additions join the group for informal skates on Wednesday.

Dylan Strome and Connor Brown took the ice with Lars Eller, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Carl Hagelin and more as the Capitals continued their offseason workouts ahead of the 2022-23 campaign. Washington posted pictures of the two on Twitter on Wednesday.

This is the first time Strome and Brown are in full Capitals gear and are skating at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. Strome signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract with Washington to open free agency. The team also acquired Connor Brown from Ottawa. at the start of the offseason.

NEW DUDES pic.twitter.com/civR3rnDef

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 7, 2022

Strome is coming off a strong season in Chicago that saw him dish a career-high 22 goals and 26 assists for 48 points in 69 games. He is hoping that he can find more consistency in the District. He also wants to be more reliable at both ends of the ice.

“I think over the last couple of years I feel like I’ve turned into a little bit more reliable than maybe I was at the beginning of my career defensively. So I think I was put into some situations last year where I’d take some face-offs in the defensive zone at key times in games and my face-off numbers got better last year and looking to improve on that this year. So really excited about that. Obviously I like to produce offense, like to help on the power play where that may be usually it’s in front of the net or down low, I think that’s where I’m at my best.”

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Brown, who had 10 goals and 29 assists in 64 games with Ottawa in 2021-22, wants to bring a “little bit of everything” to the Capitals.

“I always thought I was a skilled forward and I see myself as that. But I remember my junior coach telling me really to hone in on being a good penalty-killer and making that something I take pride in, and ever since then, I really have,” Brown said. “I try to have a knack for stealing pucks, I just really enjoy penalty-killing… defensively as a forward, I steal pucks and play tenacious. I like to consider myself as doing a little bit of everything. So I think I can help out the second unit and everything I can do, every little thing, I will try to bring it all. It’s tough to just pinpoint one there.”