Strome’s resurgence is proof he’s no bust
Third overall pick in 2015 taking advantage of change of scenery with the Blackhawks
The definition of who Dylan Strome is as a hockey player needs to be re-written.
The old ones don’t work anymore. He’s no longer considered a first-round bust in the NHL. He’s been kicked out of a club that includes Alexandre Daigle, Nail Yakupov and Nikita Filatov. You cannot call him a botched pick or a draft-day mistake.
If the Arizona Coyotes made any kind of mistake on Strome, it wasn’t selecting him with the No. 3 overall pick in 2015. It was trading him less than three years later.
“Every one has a different path to the NHL,” said Strome. “Mine obviously took longer. But hopefully I can be that high pick that people wanted me to be back there.”
With 30 points in his last 32 games, Strome is looking like he was worth the four-year wait. Of course, the Coyotes aren’t enjoying any of it. The team that selected Strome ahead of Mitch Marner and Noah Hanifin — not to mention Mikko Rantanen, Mathew Barzal and Brock Boeser — traded him to Chicago in November. At the time, he was just 21 years old and had played fewer than 50 games. Patience can be a difficult thing, especially when it concerns high draft picks. The other day, when talking about the development of Jake Gardiner, former Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle (who was just fired by the Anaheim Ducks) said you don’t know what you have in a defenceman until he plays 200 games. The same should apply to forwards, whether it’s Calgary’s Sam Bennett (fourth overall, 2014), Vancouver’s Jake Virtanen (sixth overall, 2014) or Edmonton’s Jesse Puljujarvi (fourth overall, 2016).
But often the wait time is even less than half of that. Strome had three goals and six points in 20 games this season when he and Brendan Perlini (12th overall in 2014) were shipped to Chicago in a trade for Nick Schmaltz (20th overall in 2014). That Arizona had to toss in Perlini to make the trade happen told you what the hockey world thought of Strome. “He’s never going to have Connor McDavid’s feet,” said Sherry Bassin, the former junior hockey executive who drafted Strome to the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters in 2013 and remains a close friend. “But here’s the deal: there’s no substitute for hockey sense, vision and hard work. John Tavares was the same way. If he works as hard as Tavares has on his feet, he’s got a chance to be a hell of a player.” A one-time top prospect who led the OHL with 129 points in his draft year, Strome was selected right after McDavid and Jack Eichel in 2015. Unlike those two, who made the jump to the NHL look seamless, Strome returned to junior in 2015-16, when he was told to get bigger and faster. Some said he needed to grow into his six-foot-three frame. Others weren’t so kind, calling him too slow for today’s game.
One year later, Strome was again sent back to junior. What made it worse was the eight players selected right after him, not to mention Travis Konecny (24th overall), Anthony Beauvillier (28th) and Sebastian Aho (35th), were playing professional hockey with most of them in impact roles in the NHL.
“Don’t think he didn’t know where he was picked,” said Bassin. “As much as you’re trying to disregard it, it’s tough to live with emotionally.”
The following year, Strome graduated from junior, but was demoted to the minors as even more of his draft class arrived. He tried not to pay attention. He told himself that every player’s path is different. But it was a hard sell, especially when Mathew Barzal won the Calder Trophy as a “lateblooming ” rookie.
“It’s tough to watch everyone and see how well they’re doing in the NHL and how many in the first-round players were playing already,” said Strome. “You try to block it out as much as you can. But you obviously see that stuff and it’s frustrating. The thing that (former Coyotes head coach) Dave Tippett said to me was you’re good enough to be in the NHL, but you’re not a good enough player to play every night yet. That stuck with me.”
In some ways, the trade to Chicago was the change of scenery Strome needed. But at the time, it was another hit to his ego. It’s one thing to have fans criticize you as a draft-day bust, it’s another to have management essentially agree and cut bait. And then Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman called Strome and it was as though he had been drafted all over again. “He said he was so thrilled to have me,” Strome said of his initial conversation with Bowman. “He just wanted me to be myself and love hockey again.”