ARLINGTON, VA — When the St. Louis Blues traded Jordan Kyrou this summer, the move to Washington came with an extra perk: Kyrou could pick his own goal song.
The Capitals have used different goal songs for each player since 2019, allowing them to decide what they want playing when they score at home. The choices have varied, from crowd favorites like TJ Oshie’s “Take Me Home Country Roads” (now used by Aliaksei Protas,) to Ryan Leonard’s USA Hockey-inspired “Freebird” and Alex Ovechkin’s oft-played “Shake, Rattle, and Roll.”
Fourteen games into the season, however, Kyrou’s goals are still soundtracked by the team’s default “Kickstart My Heart” by Motley Crue, used both for players who haven’t made their picks and when it isn’t obvious who scored a goal.
So what gives? It turns out that Kyrou hasn’t just been procrastinating on his homework: he did pick a song. Unfortunately for him, the Capitals vetoed his choice.
“I had one, but [the team] said I couldn’t do it,” Kyrou said Friday.
Kyrou wanted to go with “Janice STFU” by fellow Toronto native Drake, who he called his “hometown boy,” but the Capitals presumably deemed it wasn’t appropriate for the all-ages audience of a home game.
Kyrou isn’t the first Caps player to have his picks rejected; beyond any profanity concerns, Evgeny Kuznetsov was also unable to pick a Russian-language song during his tenure in DC.
With his top pick out of contention, Kyrou is still considering backup options.
“Now I’m stuck,” he said. “I don’t know what to do.”
There’s been a whole lot of Motley Crue to go around at Capital One Arena in the meantime. After a relatively slow start to the season, Kyrou has thrived on a line with Alex Tuch and Dylan Strome. He has 12 points (4g, 8a) in eight games since joining the trio, leading the Capitals over that span, and now ties Strome with 14 points (5g, 9a) for most on the team all year.
Given the success he’s found with the generic goal song, Kyrou’s in no hurry to change it up with a new pick.
“I might just leave it,” he said.
