Chicago Blackhawks: Dylan Strome’s extension is much needed good news
The Chicago Blackhawks gave a two-year contract extension to Dylan Strome.
The Chicago Blackhawks have been given nothing but bad news over the past few weeks. Their roster is very bad, to begin with, but then they lost Jonathan Toews, Kirby Dach, and Alexander Nylander. That is two of your top centers and a winger out for a while with little to replace them. Well, that hard to replace but it had to put pressure on Stan Bowman to get Dylan Strome‘s contract done. He was an RFA that needed a deal but now he will be ready to join Training Camp on time.
The contract is a two-year deal that will give him an average annual value of three million dollars against the cap. It is a decent contract for a player like him that has the potential to have a lot of points. He is more of a passer than a shooter but he does have the ability to score some goals as well. Chicago acquired Strome in the Nick Schmaltz trade with the Arizona Coyotes a few years ago.
In his first year with Chicago, Strome had a brilliant stretch of play. He was almost a point per game player but things took a small step back in 2019-20. He wasn’t bad by any means but he surely wasn’t as good as the year before.
When he came over from Arizona, a big deal was made about him being reunited with Alex DeBrincat. DeBrincat and Strome played together for the Erie Otters before making it to the NHL and they were so great on the same line. In the NHL with Chicago, they picked up right where they left off in year one but the second year was a bit of a struggle (for their standards). It would be really nice to see both take that next step in 2021.
With Dach and Toews out, Strome is more than likely going to be the top center. He will have a good amount of wingers that get a chance with him, including Patrick Kane or Dominik Kubalik. No matter what, the Hawks need Strome to be great for them on the number one line. At 23 years old, it makes sense to keep him in their future plans. If they do truly execute a rebuild, Strome could absolutely be a part of it.
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This deal needed to get done otherwise they would be pretty bad down the middle. They are still less than good but this makes things much better. The hope is that he can take that next big step and show he can be a permanent top-six center on this team. If he does do that, he should be able to earn himself a really nice third contact after these two years are up.