I’m confused about this whole sustainability question..so if his numbers are very good because of Kane it’s not sustainable? Why? Is Kane going somewhere?
it makes no sense. its a weak crutch often used to knock a players production.
its not like Kane turned Michal Handzus into a 60+ pt player. When Toews was playing like dog crap last year and Q put them on the same line together get him going, Kanes production dipped and Toews' production didnt get any better
Coaches arent going to keep tethering dead weight to their star talent. its not an automatic production bump. the complimentary players still need to play their part and produce or they dont stick.
Now if you want to argue that Strome is a player that needs to be surrounded by other skill players to flourish (which he does and is a fair point), thats fine. But its hardly just that Strome found his sea legs in the NHL because of playing alongside one specific player.
Strome is not McDavid where he can drag a line of mutants up and down the ice by himself and still generate scoring. But he certainly will not develop by continually given bottom 6 minutes and linemates and then all of a sudden people in Arizona label him a "bust". Chicago just did the practical thing, give a top 3 overall pick top 6 caliber linemates and ice time. What a novel idea and the end result is production