#...I wonder if Nicke is also playing therapist for him on the whole McDavid thing. One wonders.

[thornescratch]

No one can replace Nicklas Backstrom for the Washington Capitals, but Dylan Strome's coming pretty close.

The 27-year-old has taken over as Alex Ovechkin's center and has assisted on all 10 of Ovechkin's goals to open the 2024-25 season as No. 8 gets closer to Wayne Gretzky's all-time goals record...

Strome also credited Backstrom for his support as he's found a home in D.C. over the last two and a half seasons. The two play golf together, and have had "a little bit" of discussion here and there about being Ovechkin's center.

"He was always very supportive, very kind to me... I've heard 1,000 stories about how great of a teammate he is and I got to witness that firsthand and how good he was for the Caps and for this team and as Ovi's center," Strome said. "Obviously everyone watched Ovi's goals growing up and he assisted on the most of anyone. So lots to learn from that."

Crying a little a lot over this.