Dylan Strome finally has some stability and a team that trusts him to be a long-term scoring line center.
On Friday, the Washington Capitals announced a five-year, $25 million contract extension for Strome, 25. He was set to become a restricted free agent this summer. The new deal locks him up through the end of the 2026-27 season.
Strome’s NHL career to date has been a rollercoaster of hype, disappointment and redemption. He was the third overall pick of the now-legendary 2015 NHL Draft, going to the Arizona Coyotes, sandwiched between Jack Eichel at No. 2 and Mitch Marner at No. 4. Strome was lauded as a potentially dominant playmaking center, blessed with a rangy 6-foot-3 frame, but his below-average skating held him back. He didn’t stick as a full-time NHLer until the 2018-19 season, during which he was traded along with Brendan Perlini to the Chicago Blackhawks for Nick Schmaltz.
Strome appeared to realize his potential after that November 2018 trade, amassing 51 points in his first 58 games with the Hawks, and he often produced like a legitimate No. 2 playdriving center, but his defensive play left a lot to be desired, and he was known to disappear for extended stretches. The Blackhawks let him walk for nothing in the 2022 offseason, opting not to give him a $3.6 million qualifying offer. The Capitals, desperate for help up the middle due to Nicklas Backstrom’s hip-resurfacing surgery, snapped up Strome on a one-year, $3.5 million “prove it” contract.
Strome hasn’t wowed in his debut season with Washington, but he has more or less been his usual self. He averaged 51 points per 82 games in his career going into 2022-23 and has scored at a 57-point pace this season, most commonly playing on the top line with superstar Alex Ovechkin and Conor Sheary. Strome has has assisted on eight of Ovechkin’s 32 goals this season. The easiest inference on why the Capitals felt it was necessary to lock up Strome: there’s just no way of knowing how much hockey Backstrom has left in him after coming back from such a serious procedure. He’s back in the lineup, but he’ll turn 36 next November and could be an eventual LTIR stash if his hip doesn’t co-operate. The Capitals are thus likely signing Strome to be No. 2 center insurance, assuming they still view Evgeny Kuznetsov as their No. 1.
Still, the signing is curious. On one hand, you know what you’re getting with Strome, who generally grades out well in 5-on-5 offense and has an underrated shot. On the other hand, he’s been both one-dimensional and inconsistent throughout his career, and the 2023 UFA class, as least for now, has some intriguing centers going to market if they don’t re-sign with their current teams, from Bo Horvat to Dylan Larkin to Ryan O’Reilly. Did the Caps need to commit $25 million to their RFA Strome halfway through this season?
It’s certainly a coup for Strome after previously signing contracts of two years and one year coming off his entry-level pact. Whether it proves to be a good investment by Caps GM Brian MacLellan remains to be seen.
