ARLINGTON, V.A. — New Washington Capitals defenseman Vincent Desharnais can't remember the last time he wasn't an outlier.

Standing at 6-foot-7, Desharnais was always by far the tallest in the room. Now, he fits right in with a big-bodied Capitals roster that was all in on getting bigger this summer.

Now, Washington leads the league in average height (6-foot-2) and average weight (205).

"It's not a couple more guys, it's eight or nine more guys that are just as big as me or close to me. We're going to be scary," Desharnais grinned when asked about getting to play some heavyweight hockey in the District, adding, "I don't remember the last time I had so many big bodies with me, so I think that's going to be very interesting to see. I'm super excited about it."

Not only did Washington add Desharnais, but the team also brought in 6-foot-4 forward Alex Tuch, 6-foot-2 center Boone Jenner and 6-foot-1 winger Jordan Kyrou. Then, of course, there's the return of Alex Ovechkin, who weighs in at 6-foot-3, 238 pounds and is 153 hits away from becoming the NHL's all-time hits leader.

It was part of the game plan for D.C., who wanted to not only get bigger, but deeper and more versatile while complementing the size it already has on the roster.

"When I look at our forwards with the two Protas brothers at 6-foot-6 and Tom Wilson at 6-foot-4 and Pierre-Luc Dubois at 6-foot-4 and adding Tuch, all of the sudden, Dylan Strome at 6-foot-3 is one of the smaller forwards we're going to have," assistant general manager Ross Mahoney laughed. "Very impressive... I thought our pro staff did a great job."

Beyond simply looking the part, adding height and weight does help the Capitals in several key areas.

For starters, it gives the group more physicality, meaning that Wilson and Ovechkin won't have to carry the load of being the only heavy hitters this season.

"You hear a bunch of the guys reference the physicality of the group gets everybody (involved)," coach Spencer Carbery explained. "Like, 'I'm playing with Willy, I've got Boone Jenner, this is nice.' You know, it's not just (one guy) looking around and (they're) the only sort of physical presence in the room.

Instead, all four forward lines and defensive pairings can pack a punch, and the forecheck will be more relentless and have a nice balance of skill and size.

That in itself is something that Washington didn't have a season ago.

"We're not just like we're not just going to be big," Desharnais said. "We're going to get structured fast, working hard, moving the puck well."

In addition to being even harder to stack up against, it'll also be more difficult for opponents to get through.

As Desharnais explained, having all of that size will take away the open space, making it hard for anyone to find room out there and allowing D.C. to tilt the ice in that regard.

"When you're a big guy and when you have big guys like that, you take up so much room in the D-zone, it's hard to go by, ti's hard to create things, because ther'es so many long sticks out there," he said. "Same thing for the (penalty kill)... you cover a lot more room."

And, finally, there's the compete that the group prides itself on, which, in combination with the roster's newly-added size, should make for quite the beast of a team to go up against this coming season.

"To have multiple guys that really take pride in playing with a competitive edge and being hard and physical on the opposition — in the East, there's going to be some physical games, and when we've got a group that now all of the sudden feels a little bit taller with all these guys through your lineup, it's a big positive," Carbery added.