The Capitals just threatened the entire NHL with this bold statement

Vincent Desharnais is walking into the tallest, heaviest roster in the NHL, and he's convinced this Washington Capitals group is about to be scary.

Washington added size all over the roster this summer, bringing in Jordan Kyrou, Alex Tuch, Boone Jenner, and Desharnais himself.

That group now averages 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, the biggest and heaviest roster in hockey heading into this season.

"We're going to be scary," Desharnais said. "When you have a lot of big guys like that, you take so much room in the D zone. It's hard to go by, it's hard to create things, because there's so many long sticks out there."

But size wasn't the only priority here. Last season, injuries and inconsistency up front left Washington searching for an extra gear, especially on zone entries and secondary scoring.

The underlying numbers tell a different story than that surface level struggle though. Washington ranked sixth in the league in maximum speed last season, averaging 24.26 miles per hour.

They also finished sixth in speed bursts over 22 miles per hour and eighth in bursts between 20 and 22.

Ryan Leonard's blazing speed anchors this evolution

Ryan Leonard led that group, sitting in the 99th percentile league wide for top skating speed, with 20 goals and 25 assists for 45 points in 75 games.

Ethen Frank checked in at the 95th percentile, while Aliaksei Protas landed in the 89th percentile after a strong season of his own, 25 goals and 27 assists for 52 points across 76 games.

Kyrou adds even more juice to that mix, sitting in the 86th percentile himself after posting 18 goals and 28 assists for 46 points in 72 games with his previous club.

A fully healthy Pierre-Luc Dubois should help too. Injuries limited him to just 29 games last season, though he still managed 19 points in that shortened stretch.

Protas made the case himself that size and speed aren't actually in conflict for this roster.

"Technique and skating are important, we have a team with good technical skills. You can't say that Tom Wilson is a player with poor skating ability," Protas said.

Wilson backed that up on the ice, posting 30 goals and 32 assists for 62 points in 72 games, proof that Washington's bigger bodies aren't sacrificing much speed to get there.

"With our size, we'll be able to get results in certain situations. Recent seasons have shown that bigger teams have a better chance of winning," Protas added.

Desharnais, arriving from outside the organization, has already noticed the identity Washington is building around.

"We're not just going to be big, we're structured, fast, moving the puck well," Desharnais said. "That's something I've noticed about Washington, they always move the puck well."

Washington finished 43-30-9 for 95 points last season, 12th overall, and this roster is clearly betting that adding size on top of already solid speed numbers is the formula that pushes them further.

Whether that combination actually translates into more wins won't be clear until games start counting again in October.