Arizona Coyotes: Does Dylan Strome Deserve Coyotes' Roster Spot?
Arizona Coyotes top prospect Dylan Strome has made it to the final round of cuts in training camp for the second year running. Some are skeptical about Strome’s ability to hang in the NHL this season, however.
For Arizona Coyotes center Dylan Strome, he has waited an entire year for the answer he’ll receive in the next few days.
Will he or won’t he make the Yotes’ final 23-man roster? All the work of the last 365 odd days comes down to a decision by Dave Tippett and John Chayka.
Strome hopes it’s the answer he wants to hear.
Earlier in the offseason, the young forward told TSN that he felt he was “done with junior and I don’t want to be there next year.” Many fans took that as an encouraging sign, but once he got into rookie camp and then full training camp, the reaction hasn’t been quite as gleeful.
Put simply, Dylan Strome has been outshone by Christian Dvorak.
The Memorial Cup Champion entered camp on a mission and when the organization’s final roster is announced on Tuesday, it would be a genuine shock if Dvorak is not included in the final twenty-three.
The fate of #20 is very much up in the air, however. It really depends on how you view the situation.
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On the one hand, it’s undeniable that Dvorak is capable of playing a 200-foot game and, at least at this point his career, Strome is not. Christian Dvorak has received a lot of adulation for this fact throughout the summer and training camp this fall. It’s also the biggest knock on Strome beyond the need to improve his skating, and it’s a valid one.
Does Dvorak’s two-way ability diminish Strome’s value? Not in my opinion.
Many of these highly drafted kids enter the league with a lot of talent and an immediate ability to score, but the rest of their game takes a couple of years to round out.
On the other hand, offensively Strome has the tools to be one of the top scoring talents in the National Hockey League.
While fans and other spectators may feel he is floating around the edges of the play, that is part of the young man’s game. He doesn’t have his grown man body yet, so he’s forced to find other ways to insert himself into the action. Despite that, he’s still produced in the preseason by simply playing smart and, much like his Captain Shane Doan, by being in the right place at the right time.
The Arizona Coyotes had another player who played like that last season, though it was for different reasons. His name is Anthony Duclair. He, too, was accused of being a passenger on his shifts from time to time.
The argument against Strome right now is that his lack of physicality and unrefined defensive game are reasons to send him back to Erie. That makes sense on the surface.
What if Strome would be better served working on those things right here in Glendale, however?
It’s hard to say that Dylan Strome would not improve by spending another year captaining the Erie Otters, but no matter how you slice it that move is a step backwards for the Coyotes and for Strome. And with the amount of growth he still has left in the OHL likely limited, perhaps he’s better off learning on the job.
The team raved about him in training camp last season and bar concerns over his ability to hold up over an 82-game season, Tipp and former General Manager Don Maloney were ready to put him on the squad for opening night. He certainly hasn’t regressed, so how do you explain putting #20 on a flight back to Pennsylvania?
I’m not sure you can. At least not when the alternative option is Laurent Dauphin.
Based on merit, Dauphin deserves to make this team or be one of the first injury call-ups this winter. He’s worked hard in training camp and impressed the coaching staff tremendously.
Does having yet another bottom-six plug really put this team over the hump for playoff contention in 2016-17, though? That seems doubtful. At least when the person Dauphin will be replacing is Strome.
Whatever Dauphin may bring can already be found on the roster.
In an ideal world, Dauphin would replace a veteran like Ryan White or Brad Richardson and the team would still have room for both Strome and Dvorak, but it’s unlikely the Arizona Coyotes are heading down that route.
Would the scoring ability of Dylan Strome help put this team over the hump toward legitimate playoff contention next February and March? That outcome seems far more reasonable.
The Coyotes need goal-scorers. They need to push the pace with all of the youth and speed in their lineup. This team needs to play with the puck instead of retreating into a shell.
Strome can help with all of those things.
Sure, he may get pushed around and roughed up in certain matchups, but perhaps that is what the kid needs to push him to the next level.
Why send him to exile in Erie when the Coyotes’ wonderful staff can fine-tune the problems they see in his game right here, all while he contributes this season?
Dylan Strome does not yet possess a consistent 200-foot game, but he can contribute to this hockey team right now.
Considering the defensively sound forwards already included on the Arizona Coyotes roster, I’ll take that offensive upside over a plucky bottom-six grinder any day.
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