Carbery's Plan For Capitals' Influx At Center As He Envisions Roles For McMichael & Lapierre

The Washington Capitals got down to business this offseason, and as they overhauled a third of their roster, they also ended up with a total of five centers, creating an influx. For head coach Spencer Carbery, though, it's a good situation to be in.

With Pierre-Luc Dubois joining the mix and Hendrix Lapierre graduating to the NHL level, Washington has five centers in the mix, with Dylan Strome, Connor McMichael and Nic Dowd making up the rest of the depth down the middle.

While Carbery acknowledged that there are too many cooks in the kitchen, it's ideal given the ever-changing landscape of the NHL when it comes to player injuries.

Related: Report: Ovechkin Dealing With Offseason Injury, Recovering & Set To Ramp Up Training In Coming Days

"Whenever you plan on thinking that (the lineup) is going to be healthy and available every single day usually is not what's available," Carbery pointed out. "You're always hopeful that you're gonna have your entire lineup there for 82 games and everybody stays healthy, but I think it gives us some depth there if we lose someone to injury."

But what if everyone is healthy? Carbery said the team has several options, but that Connor McMichael is perhaps the best candidate to move to the wing given his history playing there.

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"(There's) guys that can play the wing, Mikey's played starting last year on the wing, I think he can easily seamlessly go there," Carbery said. "Lappy, we'll see what it looks like, but we do have some options there and we've got some depth there, so it's good to have that, especially down the middle."

Carbery also envisions McMichael taking on a bigger role on special teams. He's also excited about the challenge of getting Dubois to play at his highest level and become a 60-point scorer once again.

Related: Carbery Says Initial Conversations With Dubois Have Been Great, Ready To Help Him Live Up To Potential With Capitals: 'I Love The Challenge'

Washington opens training camp in September, where Carbery will also evaluate his centers and see who wins what role as he formulates his opening night roster and ideal lineup behind the scenes.