Dylan Strome‘s point production dropped by 30 percent last season. For 2026-27 to be successful, he must get back on track.
By the Numbers
19
Goals
39
Assists
80
Games played
18
Minutes per game
On-ice percentages
49%
Shot attempts
50%
Expected goals
56%
Actual goals
Isolated Impact by HockeyViz
About this visualization: This image by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows how the player has impacted play when on the ice. At the top of the image is the team’s offense (even strength at left, power play at right) and at bottom is the team’s defense (with penalty kill at bottom right). In each case, red/orange blobs mean teams shoot for more from that location on the ice, and blue/purple means less. In general, a good player should have red/orange blobs near the opponent’s net at top, and blue/purple blobs near their own team’s net at bottom. The distributions in middle show how the player compares to league average at individual finishing, setting up teammates to score, and taking and drawing penalties. The number at center is Synthetic Goals: a catch-all number for the player’s impact.
Player Card by Evolving Hockey
About this player card: This card from Josh and Luke of Evolving Hockey compares the player to league averages based on their impact on on-ice statistics. GAR means “goals above replacement,” where “replacement” means an average player called up from the AHL. xGAR is the same figure but assuming league-average goaltending. The numbers at top are the player’s percentile ranks overall and then for offense and defense alone.
Player Overview by NHL Edge
About this visualization: The NHL’s advanced statistics program, Edge, tracks player and puck movement. The player’s shot speed, skating speed, and skating distance are at top along with percentile rank. At bottom left is a shot location map, and at bottom right is zone time per zone.
Gratuitous Generative Art by Peter
Peter’s Take
I put the important bit up top. Strome was a point per game player in 2024-25 (82 points in 82 games), but he lost 10 goals and 14 assists in 2025-26.
The way I see it, about half the falloff is due to silliness. His individual five-on-five shooting was the lowest it has been since he came to DC by two percentage points, and his power-play shooting dropped from 24.3 last season (unsustainable!) to 14.3, which honestly ain’t that bad. Strome’s assists fell off, but on-ice rates and shares all looked good.
It’s just that Strome was more deferential to his teammates – shooting less in proportion to his on-ice partners. He used to account for almost 20 percent of the raw shot attempts and 30 percent of the expected goals, but now it is 16 percent and 21 percent respectively.
We think of Strome’s role as playmaker, but the Caps need him scoring goals as well. For the first time since 2020-21, he failed to notch twenty. I wonder if there was something other than age hindering his shot last season, which dropped in power and volume – the latter to a career low.
Strome has two years left on a $5M AAV deal (wow, that’s still a terrific bargain). Unless the Caps can bring someone in at center above him, they’ll need to find a way to get him scoring again.
Strome on RMNB
- Strome in one of the Ovi extension believers.
- He worked an ice cream truck and duffed the first pitch at a Washington Nationals game.
Strome and Protas brothers take legendary photo together before Capitals preseason game in Hershey
- On his assist on 895: “I think it was great, but it was a chintzy secondary assist.”
- He got a lower-body injury at the end of October. Missed a week, but scored in his first game back.
- I think this was our biggest story of the year:
- He met Sutton a little bit later.
- Dylan Strome saved Josh Anderson’s life, according to Tom Wilson
- Strome and Ovechkin got split up in December. (Also Beauvillier, which, well, about that…)
- Teammates criticized his bobblehead’s nose.
- He spoke about the Caps’ inability to string two wins together.
- Teammates beat him up in a goal hug.
- He served as AC after the Carlson trade.
- Ryan Leonard replaced Strome as the Easter Bunny at Strome family’s annual Easter egg hunt
- On Ovi’s “final” game: “We’re going to try to have fun. I think that’s the way we’re looking at it.”
Your Turn
Is Strome 1C in October? If not, who is? (Before you answer, ask if that person actually takes faceoffs.)
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