Ugh...I thought they were done with this kind of **** after the regime change. To be clear I'm perfectly ok with Strome being in Tucson, I'm of the opinion he should go dominate there first but they should have just started him in the AHL in the first place instead of keeping him up only to give him such a ridiculously short leash.
I'd have preferred that too, particularly with the camp Kempe had. Kempe is the kind of expendable, easily scratched if necessary, high-energy kind of a guy who knows the only way he's going to get ice time is to excel. Strome, unfortunately, does not have the pressure (or, if he does, not nearly at as high of a level). Everyone keeps telling him he's a lock for the NHL and he's a 3OA pick and so forth, so I do worry that maybe he's a bit too comfortable in his view of his own future.
Strome needs a full season in the AHL - preferably, without any cups of coffee - to prove his junior game is translatable to the pro one. I think Chayka made a mistake in keeping him up, and I think he knows it. Better to rectify the mistake now rather than have the kid stuck here playing low minutes.
(PS - he's wearing #91 in Tucson... anyone else feel an unpleasant shiver about that?)
