National Post (National Edition)
Strome brings Team Canada right attitude
Coyotes prospect looks to make an impact
Ain Toronto s the face of the Team Canada world junior team, Dylan Strome still flashes the odd grimace when he thinks about the twist his career has taken. And understandably so.
For the first seven weeks of the NHL season, the rookie forward would walk into the Arizona Coyotes dressing room each and every game day and look at the lineup board on the wall, searching to see if his number would be part of the team’s four lines or was listed among the healthy scratches.
All that changed a week ago when word came down: you are being returned to the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters.
“I’m not going to lie — it sucked,” Strome said from Erie, Pa., on Wednesday.
It’s easy to relate to the kid’s disappointment. At the same time, he’s using these emotions as motivation, fanning his determination to overcome the immediate challenges that lie ahead.
Moreover, he must concentrate on his own game — and not of those from his draft class who still are up in the pros right now.
On Tuesday night, for example, each of the top five players taken in the 2015 draft had a positive impact for their respective teams.
First overall pick Connor McDavid registered two points for the host Edmonton Oilers in a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
No. 2 pick Jack Eichel returned from a high ankle sprain and registered a successful regular season debut, accruing a goal and an assist to help his Buffalo Sabres beat the Ottawa Senators 5-4.
Back in Edmonton, fourth selection Mitch Marner chipped in with an assist in the Leafs victory, pulling him into a temporary tie with Winnipeg Jets phenom Patrik Laine atop the NHL’s rookie scoring race with 19 points,
And in New York, Carolina Hurricanes defenceman Noah Hanifin, the fifth overall pick, finished a respectable plus-one in a 3-2 loss to the Rangers.
Of course, none of those members of the Class of 2015 had a more lucrative night than Strome. Hours after Hockey Canada announced he was a no-brain inclusion on the Team Canada roster, Strome shredded Mississauga for a goal and four assists in a 9-2 Erie victory, upping the centre’s point total to 10 in just three games since rejoining the Otters.
The key difference here: McDavid, Eichel, Marner and Hanifin all are still in the NHL. Strome isn’t.
But this isn’t a story of a bitter young player who feels he was hard done by. Far from it. Indeed, Dylan Strome is more focused than ever to succeed, beginning with the upcoming World Junior Championship.
“I’m a different person from the guy who was here a year ago,” he said. “Being at the NHL level, I learned life lessons. I learned about being a team player. I learned that you get treated the same, whether you make $800,000 or $5 million. And I know I have to work on getting to pucks quicker and getting stronger.”
In his short time back in Erie, the Otters brain trust already can see the change in Strome. According to GM Dave Brown, the coaching staff has observed Strome working out diligently in the weight room after each game. “I’ve noticed a huge difference in his approach,” Brown said. “We had a sitdown chat at ice level after practice Monday and he told me: ‘If I can’t help significantly right now (in Arizona), I want to do it here.’”
It’s that glass-half-full attitude that has Team Canada officials optimistic about Strome’s ability to educate the younger players on what to expect at the world juniors in Toronto and Montreal later this month.
After posting a poor 1-21 record in the preliminary round of the 2016 tournament in Helsinki, Team Canada faced a brutal quarterfinal matchup against the hosts and ended up dropping a heartbreaking 6-5 decision, stripping Strome and his teammates of the opportunity of playing for any medal.
According to Hockey Canada officials, no one took Canada’s early exit more to heart than Strome, who was crushed by the loss to Finland. His raw emotion is one of the reasons he is expected to be a top candidate to be named captain for the 2017 tournament along with the Coyotes’ Lawson Crouse, the favourite to wear the “C” in the unlikely event Arizona makes him available to play.
With training camp just two weeks away, Strome, 19, feels Team Canada has some “unfinished business.”
“I want to stress to the young guys how hard this tournament is. I want them to know every game is important — otherwise you might end up with a tougher matchup in the quarters and semis than there needs to be. I want them to understand that the entire country will be watching and, even though there is pressure, it’s a good thing.”