{"id":175844,"date":"2025-09-23T08:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T08:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/175844\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T08:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T08:22:10","slug":"dylan-strome-gives-praise-to-capitals-prospects-andrew-cristall-and-lynden-lakovic-while-micd-up-during-training-camp-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/175844\/","title":{"rendered":"Dylan Strome gives praise to Capitals prospects Andrew Cristall and Lynden Lakovic while mic\u2019d up during training camp practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dylan Strome is keeping his eye on the young talent coming up through the Capitals\u2019 organization.<\/p>\n

Strome was mic\u2019d up at the Capitals Training Camp skate on Friday, and beyond chirps he threw at goaltender Logan Thompson and a cameraman to make sure he filmed one of his goals, the veteran centerman also made a few observations about two particular Caps prospects: Andrew Cristall and Lynden Lakovic.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can play,\u201d Strome said of Cristall to one of the coaches. \u201cAnyone that gets 160 points in a season usually got some good offensive instincts somewhere in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cristall played with Strome and Anthony Beauvillier on the top line of Group A during Friday\u2019s practice. The 20-year-old winger filled in on the trio for the injured Alex Ovechkin, who has yet to complete a full training camp skate due to a lower-body ailment<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Strome, famously the main stats nerd on the Capitals\u2019 roster<\/a>, isn\u2019t quite accurate about how many points Cristall racked up in the WHL last season. During the regular season, the 2023 second-round pick recorded 132 points (48g, 84a) in 57 games split between the Kelowna Rockets and Spokane Chiefs.<\/p>\n

Cristall\u2019s point total also climbs past the 170 mark if you factor in his postseason, as he posted 41 points (21g, 20a) in 19 playoff games for the Chiefs. Spokane made it to the WHL championship series but fell in five games to Gavin McKenna\u2019s Medicine Hat Tigers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a day,\u201d Strome later said to Cristall. \u201cWe\u2019re buzzing today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cristall, who compared his own stats nerdom to Strome\u2019s this past July<\/a>, is looking to secure one of the final spots on the Capitals\u2019 roster this fall after he was the last cut of training camp last year. He could face some surprising competition from a player two years his junior in Lakovic.<\/p>\n

Lakovic is one of the early standouts at this fall\u2019s camp<\/a> despite the experience being his first-ever at the pro level. The 18-year-old, 2025 first-round draft pick impressed head coach Spencer Carbery enough to receive his NHL preseason debut against the Boston Bruins on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like that Lakovic guy,\u201d Strome said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, he\u2019s really good as well,\u201d an off-screen Capitals staff member replied. \u201cThey can all skate now, and they\u2019re six-foot-four.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d Strome answered.<\/p>\n

Lakovic, who recorded 58 points (27g, 31a) in 47 games for the WHL\u2019s Moose Jaw Warriors last season, skated 13:53 of ice time against the Bruins, playing on a line with fellow prospect Eriks Mateiko and AHL veteran Spencer Smallman. He had a half-breakaway chance but fired the puck wide of Bruins netminder Simon Zajicek in the third period.<\/p>\n

Strome is signed with the Capitals through the 2027-28 campaign, so he\u2019ll want to get well acquainted with the youth in the organization that will join him in the coming seasons. Cristall is a candidate to do so as early as this year, while Lakovic will either need to make the Capitals out of camp or play another full junior season with the Warriors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dylan Strome is keeping his eye on the young talent coming up through the Capitals\u2019 organization. Strome was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-175844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}