OverDrive - Strome on his season with the Capitals, the Ovechkin experience and the team's overview

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

Washington Capitals forward Dylan Strome joined OverDrive to discuss his season with the Capitals, the experience playing with Alex Ovechkin, his wife having a child during a game, the season turnaround for the roster, Spencer Carbery's role, the condensed schedule and more.

Can my Wi-Fi connect all my family's smart stuff I want? Let's see. There's the smart TVs, five smartphones, laptops and tablets, smart speakers, smart vacuum. Huh, what else? A smart toaster. It was a gift. Smart salt shaker. Yeah, that's a real thing.

And a smart nine-speed cheese grater. Okay, I made that one up. All the tech, one connection. Yeah, this Wi-Fi can. Switch to Wi-Fi 7 on Bell Pure Fiber, Canada's fastest internet, awarded by Ukla. Visit bell.c.ca to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. Dylan Strom. How are you doing, Dylan?

I'm pretty good. I'm pretty good. Thanks for having me on. Unfortunately, we lost in the finals of the Memorial Cup to Windsor, the host team. So that one still stings. But we did win an O'HL Championship, so I'll hang my hat on that. Okay. Yeah, that's my bad. I'm looking at your hockey DB, and I can see the championship crowned beside the otters, and I could not remember on the fly. DJ Smith, Osceau, General's, man. Yeah. Was that Sorrelli on that team? Who was on that team?

Yeah, Sirelli, Michael Del Cole, Dakota Mermis. Right. Yeah, well, he's a leaf now, Dakota Mermis. He just got hurt. But while you guys, I mean, in Erie, it was, that must have been something. Like you and McDavid, I remember going to see you play Oscewa in the finals. I guess it would have been that year, the year before that, I think. And, like, what was that traveling road show like when you play, obviously, at home in Erie?

but when you float through Ontario, you two playing together and how great that Otter's team was. Well, I appreciate you, you lumping me in there, but it was quite the circus going to different cities, especially that year. I mean, especially the second half of that year,

because I don't know if you remember, but he broke his hand like early, maybe like mid-November, I think it was. So he missed like a month and a half, and then his first game back was actually at the World Juniors. So the second half of the year really picked up, And it was pretty crazy going to a bunch of different rinks. And I feel like the OHL fans are usually pretty good.

And most teams get really good crowds by when McDavid was there. It was quite the traveling circus for sure. Absolutely. Well, you beat them in points that year. You played 21 more games, but you got them. Okay, I'm going to hang my head also on that. I didn't forget that either. Absolutely.

Leading score in 1415 with Erie with Dylan Stroman. We were just talking about DrySiddle actually hitting 1,000 points last night, and after the game, he had the picture of him smoking a cigarette at his wedding, and he's a character. And the guy you play with Ovechkin, man, we love seeing the shots of him get on the plane with a subway sandwich, and he's got the bag of chips. Yeah, he always gets the chips, too, man. I love to.

I respect that. You have to. I mean, what's he like? What's Ovi like just kind of hanging out on the plane on the road? What's this guy like behind the scenes? Yeah, he's just the best. I mean, yeah, he brings the, you can usually tell on how his previous game went, because if he gets the flaming hot Cheetos,

then he probably had those the game before and probably did pretty well. But if it, you know, it didn't go so well, then he just gets the regular hot Cheetos. So that's kind of the superstition that we all joke with. We kind of go through his subway order as soon as he gets on the bus and see how much we can remember about it. It's quite the, quite the event when he gets on the bus at that subway. but he's just one of the best guys ever just a guy's guy wants to hang out wants to go for beers

well's watching soccer loves sushi um just a good hangout at all time so um when there's something going on uh you know that obi's going to be there that that's for sure no matter no matter where or what time uh on the road or at home he's going to be there i love it Dylan at what point did I know this is much publicized but before you guys go out for a game there's like a routine in the hallway and Ovi's there and their shoulder bumps with Tom. Yeah, I mean, at what point did that to develop? Has it been around for a while with all different dressing rooms, or do you feel like you guys started it in Washington?

I think most teams would do something similar to that, like kind of when guys, like, because you know, when the clock counts down, I think we go on ice at like 16 minutes on the clock. So usually around like 20 minutes, Ovi goes and turns off the music, and then he goes in the hallway and then guys kind of filter in. I think most teams kind of do something similar where they're waiting in the hallway before we go on the ice. But I think just with the caps, kind of posted almost

every game, what they do. And now they're, you know, yelling stripper and bands and maker dance for Chickren and Ovi is doing his thing with Carlson, like talking about chicken parm. And then Tom goes out there and they're like, I think they're trying to actually knock each other over. I think it's been going on since as long as I've been here.

I think T.J. Oshy is a big reason of that. He's a big cause of that. He's a big handshake guy. So I think, I'm thinking kind of when he got to the caps. That's kind of when it all kind of started. But I don't think he's changed in a long time. So he kind of adds a few new ones every time a new guy comes out there. And usually every time we're playing a team that a guy has played for, he does the, like, you know what, those efforts don't want you,

but you know what, we want you, baby. And then he sings the whole song, and everyone kind of chimes in. So it's just something to keep the mood light. I mean, he's probably the guy I play with that, you know, can keep the mood. light pretty much at any time. So it's definitely a welcoming environment and very fun to be a part of just always singing and dancing and singing songs and enjoying, enjoying life. Stromer, how is everything settled down at home? I know you experienced something in Montreal. That was like real life. Everybody, when they have a child, they obviously want to be around

at all costs. Like, can you just take us through that experience and just when you got home, how relieved you were to see your family after having your baby? Yeah, that was quite the experience for sure. I mean, my wife was three weeks until her due date. And it was funny because we had like a nine-day road trip the week before that. And then I was home for 15 straight days with the exception of Montreal. So I figured that if it was going to happen, you know, I was going to be home for it. It was going to be, you know, fine timing it.

We had a back-to-back in Montreal. So we played Wednesday night at home, flew after the game. She had nothing going on all day. And then Thursday rolls around. I get off the ice for warm-up. I talked to her right before I got to the rink. She was fine, nothing of concern. And then I got up for warm-up,

and our team services guy, Rob Tillotson, called me over to the side. And, you know, it didn't really click into me right away what he was about to tell me, but he just said, you know, your wife's at the hospital, like, do you want to call her? And I guess I better call her, yeah, and see what's going on. So I answered the phone, and she's basically having a contraction

at the time I answered the phone. So I was like, I mean, what am I supposed? I'm just sitting here in Montreal in the trainer's room. about to play a game. I can't get home in time. There's no chance I can get home. So I talked to the nurse and the nurse kind of told me, I was like, look, can you give it to me straight? How long do I have until she's going to have this baby? And she goes, like, maybe like five hours. And I'm like, well, my fastest route home is to the team playing. So I was like, I'm just going to go play the game and hopefully I can make it home in time. And I got off

the ice after the first period and check my phone. I think that's a reasonable time to check your phone in the game and she sent me a little picture with my third little girl and just said hi daddy so it was pretty it was pretty crazy uh the whole the whole thing that happened but um it was incredible that's that's crazy that is awesome and i mean typical road like you said you're at home you're gonna be at home you get the one game you float up to montreal and then uh obviously it goes down and and i people are writing in saying is i don't know if your wife is from philly or Do you have a father-in-law as a Flyers fan or something like that? Yeah, he's a Flyers fan.

Yeah. What's that like to handle within the house? Is he going to give that up and be a Caps fan now? Yeah, he's pretty much a Caps fan now, but he definitely is a Flyers fan his whole life. But I think I converted him to a Blackhawks fan first, and then now a Caps fan. So I know when the Caps are playing the Flyers,

I'm pretty convinced that he's hearing for the Caps. Okay, that's all you can ask for. That's all you can ask for, for sure, with Dylan Strom, the Leicester in Washington tomorrow. And you guys are really rolling. I mean, it's been such an up-and-down year for seemingly every team not named Colorado and maybe not named Dallas, I guess. But, I mean, you guys maybe had a bit of a slow start, but you're really back on track. Last year, you guys were unbelievable, top team in the east.

And your head coach is a guy that, you know, is easy guy to like, he's got to root for. And he seems to be poking all the right buttons. I mean, what has happened with you guys in the last month and a half, two months that has you looking and playing like he did a year ago? Yeah, I mean, last year, it kind of just seemed like everything, you know, clicked at the right time. Like, it was obviously with the goal chase and everything that was going on surrounding our team. And, you know, we kind of, we made the playoffs the year before that on the last game of the season on an empty net goal when the game was tied. So I just think, you know, we kind of just built off that momentum and just had an unbelievable year last year. It seemed like we didn't have any injuries pretty much the whole year.

Like everyone played, I think there was like nine guys that played all 82 games. And we were scoring goals like I've never been a part of a team like that before. So it was a lot of fun. And then this year, like you kind of said, we had a bit of a slow start. And then we just had a meeting about maybe about 20 days ago, I'd say. And we had 39 days until Christmas and there was 20 games. And Carbs kind of laid that out for us. And it was kind of like a huge part of the season because of how tight the Eastern Conference was.

and I think we kind of just buckled down and went on like, I think it was 10-0-2 stretch, and we stumbled a little bit the last couple, but I think it was 10-0-2 in those 12 games since we had that since we had that meeting. So it was, you know, something that we knew we needed to dial in on

and like I said, with how tight the Eastern Conference was. I mean, we lost two games, and now I think we're like in a wildcard spot, and like last week we're in first place, so it kind of goes up and down, but I like the way our team's playing, I like the way a lot of the good things that our team is doing, and It's a lot to look forward to for sure.

It feels like every time we go on the game, we have a really good chance to win. It doesn't matter who we're playing. So it's a good sign to have for a team. Dr. Homer, I don't expect you to kiss your coach's ass on national television because that just wouldn't be the way things should be. I'm a big Carberry fan. And I'm just talking about by watching him on the bench,

how he handles situations, how he looks like he's in control. I just think he's a fantastic coach. Can you just speak about him a little bit and how he's been the last couple years since he's been your coach? yeah i mean he's you know he's he's very intense he's like he's a really emotional coach and i think um you know i think at any time that you have a coach like that you know the wins feel really good and the losses you know they feel like they hurt a lot more than like a normal a normal coach i would say um and i think that that you know leads our teams to success i think you know we go into

every game and he kind of lays out in the line of you know why this game is important and and you know what our team needs to do to be successful and um you know it's hard to argue that he that he hasn't gotten the most out of, out of his players. I mean, um, I'm not a lot of people picked us to, you know, to be a, uh, you know, a good team, maybe even a playoff team last year. And, and we kind of, you know, you know, flip that script pretty, pretty quickly. And this year, I think, um, you know, the expectations were a little higher than last year. And I still think people were kind of questioning, uh, you know, how are we going to be able to repeat it? Are we going to be able to, um, sustain the offense?

And, um, it's, like you said, it's been a little bit up and down. But I feel like, you know, overall, um, our team's been pretty, pretty consistent. And, We've been missing Pierre-Luc Dubois for the majority of the season. I think he's only played six games, and he's a huge part of why we were so good last year, just the way he plays on both sides of the puck. And then Ryan Leonard, who is our rookie this year, it was really just hitting his stride,

and unfortunately he got hit pretty good there by Truba in Anaheim. So we're missing two players that are a huge part of our top six, really, our top nine. And so we're battling, we're fighting, but lots of guys just stepped up, and we're going to need to continue to do that because the schedule doesn't get any easier for us. Basically, when you're playing the Eastern Conference teams, everyone feels like they're still going to make the playoffs. So it feels like every game's even not much closer.

That's where I was going to go. How's the schedule been for yourself? I mean, it feels like it's either practice day or a game the next day. Like every second day, has it taken a toll on the guys? Have you had to manage the body a little different this year? Yeah, definitely, definitely. Like you said, it pretty much every, it feels like every, you know, it's either a back-to-back or, or, or,

we have a day off where it's a practice day. You know, luckily enough, we negotiated in the CBA a day off per week, so that's always nice to have. So we find one or two of those in there a week. But, you know, you kind of have to, just with how condensed the schedule is, because obviously there's, you know, three weeks off of the season this year with the Olympics. So I think it's like 20 days. I think most teams are getting off.

So when you got to cram every single – I think we have 16 games in January. So, like, obviously, it's 31 days in January, plus a couple back-to-backs in there. So it's tight, but I think most teams have to deal with the same thing. So, you know, like I said, with Carberry, every game feels like it's, you know, very, very important, which it is. But, you know, those dog games, you know, games 40 to 65 or so in the season can kind of be a little bit of a lull. And I think that's where last year we kind of just took off and kept their foot on the gas. Well, we'll see what you got in store tomorrow night, lease back in town. They were just there a couple of weeks ago.

Lease Caps tomorrow night, he is Dylan Strong. Great catching up with you, Dylan. I really appreciate you doing this. Obviously, congrats to you and the fam, and we'll do this again down the road. No problem. Thanks a lot. Thanks for having me, guys.

You got it. Dylan Strom. The lights are twinkling. The playlist. Sparkling. I heart the holidays is here. Canada's home for Christmas music with non-stop, festive favorites,

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