Dylan Strome didn’t mince words. The way the Capitals’ center sees it, after what Washington’s front office pulled off this summer, anything short of a Stanley Cup is a failed season.
“Not only with Ovi coming back but some of the other things too,” Strome told NHL.com. “Tuch was the big fish. So I think they had the goal in mind of what they wanted to do in the offseason and it seems they obtained that goal pretty well, getting some high-octane offensive guys that can definitely help on the power play and 5-on-5 scoring which is obviously important during the playoffs.”
The Capitals missed the postseason last year for only the third time in 19 years, finishing with 95 points — three behind the Philadelphia Flyers for the final Eastern Conference wild-card berth. For an organization that had qualified 16 of the previous 18 seasons, sitting out April and May stung. Management responded with one of the most aggressive offseason blitzes in the league.
On June 23 and 24, Washington swung separate trades to land Jordan Kyrou and Alex Tuch, both three-time 30-goal scorers. Tuch arrives fresh off a 33-goal, 66-point campaign and has hit the 33-goal mark in three of his last four seasons. July 1 brought Boone Jenner, the longtime Columbus Blue Jackets captain with 212 goals across 808 regular-season games, on a four-year, $23 million deal ($5.75 million AAV). The next day, Alex Ovechkin confirmed he’d return for another year.
That’s a lot of new firepower joining a forward corps that already included Strome, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Tom Wilson, Ryan Leonard, and Anthony Beauvillier. Last season, Ovechkin (32 goals) and Wilson (30) were the only Capitals to reach the 30-goal mark, and the team finished 15th in the NHL at 3.18 goals per game. You don’t need a spreadsheet to tell you that wasn’t enough scoring — but the spreadsheet confirms it anyway.
“We were in the postseason two years ago and we want to get back there,” Strome said. “So, obviously, does management. They’ve given us some more tools to work with and it’s exciting. I can’t wait to get going and see just how good we can be.”
Strome himself contributed 58 points (19 goals, 39 assists) in 80 games last season. With Tuch and Kyrou added to the top-six mix and Jenner bringing 13 years of NHL leadership and a grinding two-way game, the Capitals’ offense should look nothing like the unit that sputtered down the stretch in 2024-25.
Whether it all adds up to a parade down Constitution Avenue remains to be seen. On paper, though, general management went out and got exactly the kind of players a contender needs — guys who can score at even strength, contribute on the power play, and have done it for years. The film doesn’t lie about what Tuch and Kyrou bring. Now it’s on the roster to prove it between the boards.
