Because in Arizona, he didn't have a Patrick Kane to work with. And when he's not putting up numbers, he's a liability.
...but it's still alongside Patrick Kane. And he's still a liability when not putting up those numbers.
Yet most of those totals came when he was alongside Alex Debrincat and Kahun/Perlini for most of the year. Not sure where the superstar that the Wild cant matchup with is.
For G-d's sake, at least look at the cited source links. His top two 5-on-5 linemates both years have been DeBrincat and Kane. Not Kahun or Perlini. DeBrincat and Kane. This is indisputable.
Well, this can be easily checked. Who are the top two linemates for DeBrincat and Kane themselves? If they're not with Strome and the other guy, then clearly this was not a common combo. So, let's look!
Three is a litany now? And there's more folks who seem to be agreeing with me.
All of the numbers I've been showing have been 5-on-5 only. I haven't checked all-situations minutes.
I've said that he needs to play alongside a star winger. For Chicago, that's generally been Kane. I'll allow that DeBrincat seems to have taken on more of that role in his first year there. The point remains that he has never done this without that kind of talent on his wings, which is a red flag. And when he's not scoring, he's a liability, which is a huge risk. So you're talking about a guy who is already risky because you have to hope he's scoring or else he's dragging your team down... and he's got a big fat red flag on those scoring numbers. I'll grant the situation is a tad more nuanced than "he's only good alongside Patrick Kane", but needing a Mitch Marner or an Artemi Panarin or any other point-per-game guy you care to name to make him useful is not the sort of thing that makes for high trade value.
Most 5on5 but his steady lineup the most of the year and when he had more success and more games. Look at hoe many games were played with what linemates like from hockeyviz or the sites you used.
Because they can't afford him. It's as simple as that. If Brent Seabrook's albatross contract didn't exist, it would be doable. It exists. It is what it is. They have Kane, Toews, Keith and Seabrook making 33.3M combined. Kane and Toews aren't just going to be here for their current contracts. Toews is as good or better offensively as Strome without the deficiencies, and Dach is looking like he's going to develop into a prime Toews clone.
A couple clear reasons, tbe Hawks don't have pieces that are clearly good to fill those Xs, and only 2 of those listed out of 6 for the top 9 are good defensively. (Kubs and Cat battle but aren't solid on D)
I think Strome could bounce around playing top 6 minutes for rebuilding teams and putting up 55-70 points per season. That's his best career path. I'm trying to think of a guy like that, and the guy I keep going back to is Olli Jokinen. Jokinen put up some monster seasons with Florida that I don't think Strome is capable of reaching though.
What you don't realize is that while his two most common linemates were DeBrincat and Kane, 80% of the time he was playing with one of them and not both simultaneously. He was playing with DeBrincat OR Kane not DeBrincat AND Kane. You wouldn't know without watching the games. Occasionally, if trailing by a goal or two 50+ minutes into the game, they'd start all 3 on a line in the O-zone and if they lost possession of the puck either Kane or DeBrincat got the hell to the bench depending on who was closest.
The three of them rarely comprised the entirety of a line at even strength.
There was a short time in March 2019 where they rolled with DeBrincat-Strome-Kane for about 2 weeks, but it ended horribly because they ended up defending for the remainder of their shift if they ever lost the puck.
Stop.
There's a littany of Hawks fans in this thread telling you that you're wrong, and you continue to assume that Strome is a product of Kane instead of listening to Hawks fans telling you that he is a good offensive player in his own right. He spent about 45%-49% of his ice time with Kane, and also ask how much of that was at even strength. You're assuming he does nothing when not with Kane and that's nowhere close to the truth.
Very very sorry. Minnesota is on their way to the top and is not looking back!
