Alex Ovechkin’s next great centerman may or may not be on the Capitals’ current

The Capitals are a franchise in transition and there is no position where that is more evident than down the middle. Alex Ovechkin’s primary two centers for almost two decades, Nicklas Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov, have been phased out by the organization due to injury or a decline in play.

With Ovechkin trailing Wayne Gretzky by just 55 goals for a share of the NHL’s all-time lead, Capitals’ general manager Brian MacLellan was asked who will be the main pivot to skate with The Great Eight moving forward so that he can track down the record.

“We called on McDavid but they said no,” MacLellan said laughing on Saturday. “I like the job Lappy did the last couple games. I don’t know if there is a perfect center that we can go out and get. I look at the UFA market. I look at the trade market. The organization’s goal is younger, too. It’s not, let’s get older here.

“My hope is our young guys develop into that, provide that for us. And at the same time, we would be looking for opportunities for young centermen that are out there, too. That would be the philosophy behind it.”

Dylan Strome has had success with Ovechkin this season but the 26-year-old is a goal scorer in his own right and more of a fringe first-line center, especially when compared to the prime seasons of Backstrom and Kuznetsov. Head coach Spencer Carbery has tried to move Ovechkin away from Strome multiple times this season to get him with more of a natural fit but hasn’t found much success.

The difference in effectiveness at five-on-five is staggering. With Strome and Ovechkin out on the ice together, the Capitals see 51.2 percent of the shot attempts, 51.4 percent of the expected goals, 51.4 percent of the scoring chances, and 53.4 percent of the high-danger chances.

When Ovechkin has been away from Strome, he’s struggled mightily. The Capitals see just 41.3 percent of the shot attempts, 32.7 percent of the expected goals, 38.1 percent of the scoring chances, and 31.4 percent of the high-danger chances in those minutes.

In recent games, rookie center Hendrix Lapierre has been tasked with trying to turn those tide with his childhood idol. While the line has still been swamped process-wise, they’ve managed to outscore the opposition 3-0, signaling there could still be something to that connection.

While Lapierre, Connor McMichael, and perhaps Aliaksei Protas represent the Capitals’ options internally on who could still grow into great setup men, the team may need to look elsewhere to find someone who could perform at the same level as Strome or better with the Ovechkin during the next two seasons.

“You look at our roster at the beginning of the year, we had Nick, we had Kuzy,” MacLellan said. “I think it’s shifted. It’s evolved into all of a sudden we have Lapierre last night (at) first-line center, Strome second, Mikey, however you want to slot those guys.”

The upcoming unrestricted free agency pool doesn’t appear to have…