C Dylan Strome - Erie Otters, OHL (2015, 3rd, ARZ) II

[SenzZen]

Strome's much more of a shoot-first player than those guys.

More than Robert Lang?

 

[NarcoPolo]

Scouting needs to change drastically. How could anyone who watched Marner and Strome in the OHL pick Strome? Coyotes ****ed up but I'd rather want to know what the thought process was. Was it size? Was it playing on a better team? Was it height? What was it that led Arizona to pick Strome. Whatever it was, they fixed their mistake by picking Clayton Kelller the next year.

Dylan Strome will have a career very similar to his brother IMO.

I wanted Marner all the way but there was still some legitimate intrigue with Strome and there still is. In his draft year he led the OHL in scoring, putting up nearly 2ppg. People questioned whether or not McDavid inflated those stats, but the following year without McDavid, he does it again all while being the focal point for other teams to shut down. That combined with the fact that he's a 6'3 center, is a pretty damn good player. Idk why people are so quick to knock on the kid either, noone expected him to jump into the league and make an immediate impact right away. When/if he gets stronger and improves his skating like many other centers before him have, there's no reason to suggest he can't be as impactful as guys like scheifele, or Monahan imo.

 

[ponder]

That's not relevant to anything. Progression isn't linear. Thornton put up 7 points his first NHL year. Look at Duncan Keith at 19. Rielly was better than him, probably won't be better than him at 30. Strome still has 1C potential. He's only 19 and has talent.

Agreed that progression isn't linear, and that there's a chance Strome becomes a 1C. However, people are comparing him to Spezza and Kopitar - these guys aren't just "OK 1Cs", these are guys who have been top 10 centres in the league in many different seasons. We're talking legit franchise centres here. Guys this good almost always are showing it already by their draft+2 seasons. You get sleepers at other positions, but not really with high end 1Cs.

Below is my list of guys drafted from the 2000 draft onwards, who have been at least arguably a top 10 centre in the league in 3+ different seasons (like Spezza and Kopitar). For each one, I'll list what they did in their draft+2 season (Strome's current season):

• Kopitar: 61 points in 72 NHL games
• Spezza: 21 points in 33 NHL games, 54 points in 43 AHL games
• Crosby: 120 points in 79 NHL games
• Toews: 54 points in 64 NHL games
• Seguin: 67 points in 81 NHL games
• Malkin: 47 points in 46 RSL games. An unusual one in that he wasn't in the NHL in his draft+2 season because of contract issues, but he was amazing. Put up 85 points in 78 NHL games the next season
• Backstrom: 69 points in 82 NHL games
• E Staal: was in the AHL because his draft+2 season was the 04/05. Tore it up there, 77 points in 77 games. Then destroyed the NHL in his draft+3 season, 100 points in 82 games and the scoring leader in the playoffs, winning a cup
• Giroux: a rare late bloomer by elite centre standards, was still in the Q, put up 106 points in 55 games
• Stamkos: 95 points in 82 games
• Getzlaf: another guy whose draft+2 season was the 04/05 lockout. 39 points in 57 NHL games in his draft+3 year
• Bergeron: another "draft+2 season was the 04/05 lockout". 61 points in 68 AHL games in his draft+2 year, then 73 points in 81 games in his draft+3 season
• Tavares: 67 points in 79 games
• McDavid, Eichel, Matthews: none meet the criteria yet, but they all probably will. None have completed their draft+2 seasons, but all really impressive as draft+1 rookies

Basically, most of these guys were really good NHLers in their draft+2 seasons, a lot of them total stars already. There's also a few guys who couldn't play in the NHL in their draft+2 seasons due to special circumstances (contracts or the 04/05 lockout), but they all tore it up in the NHL the following year. The only truly high end centre drafted from the year 2000 onwards who was a legit later bloomer is Giroux. Maybe Getzlaf too, but who knows what he would have done in his draft+2 season if the NHL wasn't locked out.

Strome is tearing up the OHL, but looked out of place in his 7 NHL games, and franchise centres rarely look out of place in the NHL in their draft+2 seasons. If he was going to become a Spezza/Kopitar type, both legit franchise centres, he'd almost certainly be showing it already. These guys are almost always super rare talents, phenoms at young ages who adapt to the NHL crazy fast, because they're just that good. Tonnes of late bloomers become good players, and I can see Strome become a Robert Lang level player, but a franchise centre like Kopitar/Spezza, I don't see it. He's clearly got a lot of things going for him, like good size, good hockey IQ and a great shot, but he's not crazy dynamic with the puck like Spezza, or a total 2-way beast like Kopitar who dominates possession all over the ice. He's good, but if you're expecting a Spezza/Kopitar level player, I think you're bound to be disappointed.

 

[Caser]

Closing, as thread is now over 1000 posts.