The Capitals center has faith that his team will be better than it was last season, where it barely snuck into the postseason.
WASHINGTON — Washington Capitals center Dylan Strome isn't blind to the critics.
He's seen the talk and predictions that this year's team, despite a busy offseason of changes, won't make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. To Strome and the Capitals, though, it's all just noise.
"Yeah, I saw that," Strome said on Thursday. "I think people are going to write whatever they want to write."
For Strome, predictions, metrics, probability and statistics don't dictate hockey; after all, anything can happen.
"At the end of the day, you know,r rankings and stuff don't really matter once the wins and losses start piling up," Strome pointed out.
While the doubt and criticism will be in the back of Strome and his teammates' minds, they plan on using it to fuel their fire and prove others wrong.
"(Head coach Spencer Carbery) has told us a few teams that people aren't expecting it to do much, and I think it's an okay spot to be... I think we're okay with the spot we're in, and I guess time will tell."
Last season, Washington wasn't considered to be a contender for a playoff spot, but an impressive performance down the stretch helped head coach Spencer Carbery and his team clinch the final spot in the East in the last game of the regular season.
It was no secret that it took a lot of work down the stretch to make a postseason appearance happen, but Strome believes that the team did improve with its offseason additions of Pierre-Luc Dubois, Jakob Chychrun, Matt Roy and others, and that D.C. will be able to do more and win those tighter games this time around to clinch.
"I don't think we're going to catch teams by surprise this year. We're a pretty good defensive team, I think we got some really good defensemen now," Strome said. "Obviously, our challenge is going to be finding ways to win those games where we give up three or four."
