Chicago Blackhawks: Three players to trade during 2020 NHL Draft

Dylan Strome is in a strange spot. He has had an up and down tenure since coming over from the Arizona Coyotes in the Nick Schmaltz trade. He has been way more useful for Chicago than Arizona but he still is hard to determine a contract number for. He is currently a restricted free agent so the Hawks have a big decision to make with him.

In 2018-19, he really looked like he was going to be a good second-line center behind Jonathan Toews for a few years. He had 17 goals and 34 assists for 51 points in 58 games following the trade during the 2018-19 season. That is a 72 point pace over 82 games which would be a really nice total on this Hawks team. Well, in 2019-20 he took a minor step back and that played a big part in the team not being very good.

He had 12 goals and 26 assists for 38 points in 58 games before the season was paused. That is a 53 point pace over the full schedule. That would be a nice total but not at all what we were expecting. It would be really nice if he and his buddy Alex DeBrincat can have bounce-back years next season if they both return.  So is he that 70 point guy or a 50 point guy? Well, let’s assume that he is somewhere in the middle.

That, however, makes it difficult to determine how much he is worth on his next contract. If they don’t want to deal with it and make Kirby Dach the permanent number two center, they can trade him to another team that might be willing to deal with it. If they can get a fair amount in return for him, they should.