There were rumors that Dylan Strome is available via a trade out of Chicago this week. Those rumors got a lot louder on Wednesday when it was revealed the forward was being made a healthy scratch ahead of the Blackhawks game against the Colorado Avalanche.
Strome has been the subject of trade rumors over the past few days. A number of insiders, including Pierre LeBrun and Frank Seravalli both focused part of their news reports in the last 48 hours on Strome’s standing with the team. LeBrun wrote in his latest piece on The Athletic:
As discussed on TSN’s Insider Trading on Tuesday, Dylan Strome potentially could be on the move. The Blackhawks have been getting calls on him, according to league sources. Teams are aware the Blackhawks have a surplus at center after trading for Tyler Johnson this offseason plus there’s been the healthy return of Jonathan Toews and Kirby Dach is also fully healthy this year.”
Head coach Jeremy Colliton was asked about Strome not getting into the lineup for the season opening game for the Blackhawks and said it was simply a matter of there being a full roster of guys he could select from and the forward group is deep. It is just one game, the team will reassess after the contest and go from there.
Of course, the news of Strome sitting will fuel rumors that a trade could be imminent. It either suggests that the Blackhawks are so disinterested in retaining him that they can’t fit him on the active roster. Or, the team is sitting him because there is a potential trade in the works and Chicago doesn’t want to risk an injury before a deal can be finalized.
Strome was the third overall pick by Arizona in the 2015 draft and there were high expectations for him. His NHL career has seen a lot of ups and downs and when he first got to Chicago, he was performing quite well. His production has tailed off and he makes $3 million on the team’s salary cap. It’s too much for a player that doesn’t necessarily have a regular role on the current roster.
The Rangers are a team that has been loosely connected to Strome and mostly because his brother Ryan Strome plays for the team. Dylan has one more season on his deal and he will become a restricted free agent at the end of the 2021-22 season.
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