The Washington Capitals are making a subtle change to its leadership group while welcoming a new player in.
Tom Wilson will be the Capitals’ second alternate captain for both home and away games this season, joining Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin and fellow alternate John Carlson with full-time leadership duties.
The move was first revealed in Wilson’s portrait photo for the 2024-25 season. Wilson sported an “A” patch on his jersey for the first time while taking the photo. The pics were taken on Media Day, the day before the official start of on-ice Training Camp.
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery marveled in Wilson’s individual growth when talking to Capitals’ media on Thursday after the team’s Training Camp practice.
“Yeah, he was always the, from before my time here, the young guy that was brought along by the veteran guys through the 2018 team,” Carbery said. “And so the maturation of him being this young rookie, second, third, fourth year guy on a really great team that was consistently winning Presidents’ Trophies and obviously the Stanley Cup to now he’s one of the guys.
“He’s grown so much individually, but he’s also learned how to lead and what’s important and setting a good example and putting different young players under his wing and how important that is and how much of an impact he can have. And that’s what leadership is.”
Wilson, the Capitals’ likely captain in the future, ascended into the formal leadership group last season, sharing an “A” with TJ Oshie when Nicklas Backstrom left the team last November. Wilson would don the “A” during home games and Oshie would get the responsibility on the road. Now, with Oshie out injured and unlikely to play again, Wilson will take on the role full-time.
Dylan Strome, who wore an “A” for the second preseason in a row against the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday, is also being tasked with more responsibilities this season as the Capitals transition to a new core in the future. Strome served as an alternate captain during the preseason last year, too. The Mississauga, Canada native is coming off a huge year where he scored 27 goals and led the team in points (67) while playing in all 82 games of the 2023-24 season.
“Dylan Strome is a part of our leadership group,” Carbery said. “He needs, that’s one of his objectives this year, is starting to take more of a role in that department. He’s now a veteran player for us. He’s been in the league a while. Big part of our team. And so he’s hopefully going to be here for a long, long time. It’s important for him now to take that next step in his career and assume a leadership role. He does a lot of good things on the ice. We see the production and all that stuff. But his impact off the ice and in the locker room is only going to grow.”
Carbery, who was a minor-league enforcer during his playing career, said leadership can come in many different shapes and forms. He shared a story about how Martin Fehervary looks up to John Carlson, who has served as alternate captain since 2019 and goes about his business both professionally and quietly. Fehervary has served as an alternate captain for the Capitals during the last two preseasons when the team has dressed a much younger roster. The young Slovakian defenseman could ascend into Carlson’s position someday.
“Sometimes it takes a little bit (of time) in this league to realize your impact on young players,” Carbery said. “And I say this all the time to our leadership group is, when you’re John Carlson, you just go about your business and all of our players are watching everything that you do, how you eat lunch, what you eat, how you practice, how you stretch, how you work out. And that’s just the reputation that you’ve developed because of who you are and what you’ve accomplished in your career.
“So understanding, truly understanding the impact that you can have on young players’ careers and then trying to instill that and help them. And the impact I always love, too, is young players will reference, or a veteran player will reference when I was the first couple years in my league, so-and-so did this. And I always remember it. It helped me in this area. You don’t think about that, but John, hopefully, one day Rasmus Sandin or Marty Fehervary tell him stories about John Carlson’s impact.
“And then John sits back and goes, ‘Wow, I didn’t even know I was just being myself.’ That’s what leadership is about. It’s making the young players better because of your impact on them.”
Alex Ovechkin, who is entering his 20th NHL season, will lead the team into battle for the 16th year, tying Joe Sakic for the third-longest captaincy in NHL history.
