The Washington Capitals overhauled their roster over the offseason, adding seven different players to the NHL roster. Five months into the season, the retool has the Capitals at the top of the league standings and Stanley Cup contenders once again.
One of the most unheralded additions, checking-line forward Brandon Duhaime, has proven to be highly valuable. Not only is he a natural fit with Nic Dowd, but also in the Capitals’ already silly locker room.
Dylan Strome and Connor McMichael recently sat down for an episode of The Line Change Podcast with the Capitals’ Katie Florio, where they went in-depth about the role Duhaime plays on the team. The two opened up about Duhaime’s apparent endless golden retriever energy and revealed his particular love for anyone who has ever played for Washington’s AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears.
“I don’t know how to describe Dewey,” McMichael said. “I feel like he’s never had a bad day. That’s the best way to describe him. I feel like even if I’m in a bad mood, he’ll prank someone. That’s what he’s most well known for on our team is being the prankster. And he’ll prank someone, and I just can’t help myself but start laughing, and even on the bench, someone will make a nice play, and he’s hyping a guy up. It’s just unbelievable. He’s always bringing great energy.”
“You know it’s funny when Carbs is laughing behind the bench at some of the stuff that Dewey says,” Strome added.
Many of Duhaime’s exploits this season have been made public through the Capitals’ postgame celebration videos posted on social media after wins. The 27-year-old fourth-line winger has taken to barking like a dog at his teammates to acknowledge he believes they “have that dog in them.”
However, Strome and McMichael revealed that only certain players receive the barking from Duhaime. Aliaksei Protas, Washington’s talented Belorussian winger, is apparently one of Duhaime’s chosen favorites.
“Yeah, he’s the biggest Aliaksei Protas fan in, I think, in the history of hockey or the world,” Strome said. “He just loves the way Pro plays. Like, maybe ten games into the year, Pro is like lighting it up, and then Dewey is on the bench – the puck came around the wall like a rim to Pro, and Pro just made a great play on the wall, and he’s just like yelling as loud as he can, ‘That’s a Hershey product. A Hershey Bears product.’ And everyone’s just dying laughing on the bench mid-game.”
Duhaime’s love of the Bears is strange, as he has zero past connection to the back-to-back Calder Cup-winning franchise. He spent two seasons in the AHL with the Iowa Wild and never played a single game against Hershey.
The Capitals’ current roster has 10 players who have spent some time in Hershey before making their way up to the NHL. The most recent addition is Ethen Frank, who has five points (4g, 1a) in his first 16 games with Washington.
“Yeah, he loves the Hershey products that come through from Hershey to the Caps,” Strome said. “I think he’s the biggest fan of those guys – like he’s all over Franky right now. Loves Frank. Frank is the new Pro, I think, for him.”
“He might have been a Bears fan growing up,” McMichael, a former Calder Cup-winner with Hershey, said. “That’s how much he loves the place. He used to be giving me a lot of love, and now he’s moved on to other guys. I’m done.”
Duhaime has 15 points (7g, 8a) in 57 games for the Capitals this season. He is a major presence on the team’s penalty kill, which ranks tied for 5th best in the league, skating 2:13 of shorthanded ice time per game.
The Florida native, who was friends with Capitals defenseman Jakob Chychrun growing up, has also taken away most of the enforcer duties from Tom Wilson. Duhaime’s five fights this season lead the team, and Wilson, who is having an individual-best offensive year, is on pace to have the fewest bouts in a single season of his career.
Despite his obvious on-ice impact, Strome and McMichael continued to go back to how Duhaime has seamlessly fit in with the Capitals locker room and helped push forward an already established great culture.
“He’s a great teammate and a great guy that we’re lucky to have on our team,” Strome said. “I didn’t know anything about him. Never met him before. And just coming in, like you said, he’s kind of quieter at the beginning, but as soon as he opened up, we kind of understood his quirks, jokes, and stuff. He’s hilarious.”
