The Washington Capitals continue to have more and more of their roster show up to informal skates at MedStar Capitals IcePlex. Rookie Camp begins in a little over a week and the start of the main Training Camp is now just two weeks away.

Wednesday, the two newest faces to show up in the on-ice group are also new to the team altogether. They come in the form of offseason additions Dylan Strome and Connor Brown.

NEW DUDES pic.twitter.com/civR3rnDef

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 7, 2022

Strome was signed in unrestricted free agency by the Caps to a one-year, $3.5 million contract after the Chicago Blackhawks declined to send him a qualifying offer. In 69 nice games last season for Chicago, the six-foot-three center scored 22 goals and tallied 48 points. The 22 goals were a career-high.

The former number three overall draft selection played second-line minutes in Chicago, which immediately makes him the favorite to replace Nicklas Backstrom on the Caps’ second line while the latter continues to recover from offseason hip surgery.

Strome’s former OHL teammate Brown was acquired by the Caps from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a 2024 second-round pick. The 28-year-old winger played at all strengths for Ottawa and is a multi-time 20-goal scorer. He finished top ten in the league in shorthanded points last season with four.

The two forwards are the first of the team’s summer additions to take the ice in a Caps sweater. Goaltenders Darcy Kuemper and Charlie Lindgren as well as defenseman Erik Gustafsson do not appear to be in town just yet.

Team captain Alex Ovechkin could join the informal skates very soon as well. Ovi’s Russian agent Gleb Chistyakov told Sport-Express that The Great Eight would be flying out this week and confirmed that news to them early Wednesday.

“Alexander Ovechkin left Russia today,” Chistyakov said. “Today he flew to America to prepare for the NHL season with Washington.”

Ovi will be the last of the Caps’ Russian contingent to return stateside as Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, and Alexander Alexeyev have already been skating with the team for the past couple of weeks.

Rookie Camp officially begins on September 15 while the big club’s Training Camp has a September 22 start date.