ARLINGTON, Va.— Moments after the Capitals’ last two first round picks — Ryan Leonard and Terik Parascak — helped Team White capture the development camp championship, Coach Spencer Carbery met with the media for the first time since General Manager Brian MacLellan turned over roughly one-third of Washington’s roster.

“Upstairs and Mac, they did a phenomenal job,” Carbery said. “So now it’s on us as coaches to make sure we’re getting everyone on the same page, that we’re really clear with how we want to play and what our identity looks like from Day 1. And that’s what we’ll get to work on.”

Carbery didn’t divulge a ton of details regarding how he sees the Caps’ lining up on opening night but he did drop a few breadcrumbs for hockey-starved fans to nibble on as the offseason begins in earnest.  

Here are five big takeaways from his nearly 15-minute question-and-answer session with local reporters:

1. Carbery said he is looking forward to the “challenge” of helping Pierre-Luc Dubois unlock his potential.

The 26-year-old center struggled to find his fit last year in Los Angeles and ended up with 16 goals and 40 points in 82 games. A year earlier in Winnipeg, however, he played a more prominent role and amassed 27 goals and 63 points in 73 games.

“I love the challenge and that’s my job when we acquire a player that has that potential and has shown that potential,” Carbery said. “That’s what coaching is. That’s why I love to do it.

“My initial conversations with him have been great. I won’t focus on the L.A. stuff. To me, it’s him coming into a situation where we’ve got a ton of opportunity that he can take advantage of, and grab onto, and we’re going to work with him every single day to get the best out of him. “

Carbery added that Dubois might start on a line with Alex Ovechkin but he has not been penciled in as Ovi’s setup man.

“We’ll look at that,” Carbery said of Dubois skating with No. 8. “But I don’t think it’s fair to say Pierre-Luc is coming and is going to now have the responsibility to set up O. We’ll look at a bunch of different things. That’s the luxury of training camp and the length of it, to be able to look at some things.”

2. As far as the Caps’ improved depth down the middle goes, Carbery didn’t tip his hand too much there, either.

Assuming no further moves are made, Washington figures to come into training camp with five centers and, obviously, four spots to fill. The contenders are Dubois, Dylan Strome, Connor McMichael, Nic Dowd and AHL playoff MVP Hendrix Lapierre.

“It gives us depth there, if we lose someone to injury,” Carbery said. “But we also have guys that can play the wing. Mikey started last year on the wing, and can easily, seamlessly go there. Lappy?

“We’ll see what it looks like. We do have some options there and we’ve got some depth there. It’s good to have that, especially down the middle.”

3. The arrival of Jakob Chychrun and Matt Roy has also bolstered the backend.

If we’re to assume the Caps will go John Carlson, Matt Roy and Trevor van Riemsdyk down the right side, Carbery said the left side of the blue line will feature the battle to watch early on.

“To me, when I look at the left side of our backend, now there’s some real healthy competition inside there. Jakob Chychrun has been a very productive defenseman in this league for a lot of years. And so now with him and Marty (Fehervary) and Rasmus (Sandin), from a power play perspective, from a shutdown perspective, now you’ve got some different options there.”

Carbery also noted that the addition of Roy will allow the coaching staff to lighten the load on Carlson, who at 34 years old led the NHL in average time on ice last season (25:54).

“In an ideal world John Carlson isn’t leading the league in minutes,” Carbery said. “Matt Roy will be able to take a lot of those minutes off of John’s plate, which will only help John and make him more productive and more efficient.”

4. As far as how the playing time split between Charlie Lindgren and newly acquired Logan Thompson will shake out, Carbery wasn’t giving up much. 

He did, though, hint that the No. 1 job is Lindgren’s to lose but the expectation is that Thompson might apply some upward pressure.

“Chuckie had the year he had last year and has certainly earned a lot of credibility with our coaching staff,” Carbery said. “Logan has played in this league for a considerable amount of time and has shown what he’s capable of doing. It’s not the NFL where there’s a starter Day 1 and backup. We’ll look at it, and Chuckie has earned a lot of credibility with our coaching staff and with his teammates. So how that plays out, we’ll see. We feel like we’re in a good situation with both goaltenders and, for that matter, (No. 3 goalie) Hunter Shepard.”

Both Lindgren and Thompson are entering the final year of their contracts.

5. Leonard wasted no time showing the capacity crowd at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Saturday what they will be getting a year from now. 

The 2023 eighth overall pick traded shoves and slashes with an opponent moments into the first scrimmage, ran over a goalie shortly after that, scored some big goals and finished the camp-ending 3-on-3 tournament by hoisting the Future Caps Cup.

“Lenny has that DNA in him,” Carbery said. “He’s really ultra, ultra-competitive and wants to win. So when you give him a shot, he’s going to give you one right back and he wants that puck more than anybody.”