Washington Capitals defenseman Brenden Dillon talked to NBC Sports about training and how life as a hockey player has changed during the NHL pause, which has been in effect since March 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 29-year-old said that it is kind of a blur getting to know a new area after the Capitals acquired him from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2020 second-round pick and a conditional 2021 third on February 19. “If you need good takeout or anything in the Arlington, Virginia, area, I’m your guy,” he said. Dillon spent parts of the last six seasons in San Jose.
On the trade, Dillon told the NBC Sports crew “You’ve got to be a little picky when it comes to what you’re bringing with you. The less suitcases the better.”
“It’s a lot better to be passing to [Capitals’ captain Alex] Ovechkin and [center Nicklas] Backstrom than defending against them,” he said of the Capitals’ two superstars.
At MedStar Capitals Iceplex, the team’s practice facility in Arlington, Dillon’s locker is right next to forward Tom Wilson’s, and the two bonded because they like to play the same style of hockey.
“At the game rink I was right between [defenseman John Carlson] and [Ovechkin], and so for me, I wanted to take up as little amount of space as possible so I could give [Ovechkin] his room to do whatever he needed to do and not bug anybody,” Dillon said on playing with the talented team that the Capitals boast.
Dillon told the crew that he spent most of his time doing puzzles, watching Netflix, weightlifting, and gaming in Arlington for the first one to two weeks of quarantine. Afterward, he went home. “My neighbor actually owns a gym and his wife, they’re due to have a kid due any day now,” he said. Since the gym is closed, Dillon got the keys and goes over to work out in the mornings.
“I think for a lot of players, whatever its been now it’s been now six or seven weeks since we’ve last been on the ice or played a game … I can’t remember the last time, probably have to take me back to — for a lot of us — five, six, seven years old for a lot of us when we weren’t on skates for that long,” he spoke of being away from the rink for a long amount of time.
“They live good in Washington. They’ve got everything,” Dillon said.
By Harrison Brown
