Montreal Canadiens: 5 Potential Habs Trades To Upgrade At Center
#4: Ryan Strome – New York Islanders
Strome was a highly touted prospect when he was selected fifth overall by the New York Islanders in the 2011 NHL Draft. Coming off a 106 point season with the Niagara Ice Dogs, he looked like a future NHL star.
Things have not gone according to plan thus far for the 23 year old center. Upon turning pro in 2013-14, he scored 49 points in 37 American Hockey League games and 18 points in 37 NHL games. The next season, his first full year in the NHL, Strome scored 50 points in 81 games with the Isles.
This placed him third on the team behind only John Tavares and Kyle Okposo. It appeared he was ready to take off and became an elite level point producer, but things haven’t worked out that way in the past season and a quarter.
Last season, Strome scored just 28 points in 71 games. This season, he continues to struggle offensively with six points in 21 contests. He was recently made a healthy scratch by Islanders coach Jack Capuano.
Why would the Islanders make the deal?
Due to his low scoring, the Islanders may be looking to move the fifth overall pick before he loses more value. The once highly touted prospect is not going to gain value while sitting in the press box as a healthy scratch.
The Islanders have not been using Strome in much of an offensive role either. His most frequent linemates are Shane Prince and Alan Quine. No offense to those two players, but Strome was playing with much better players when he put up his 50 point season.
If others, such as Andrew Ladd, Anthony Beauvillier, Casey Cizikas. Anders Lee and Jason Chimera have passed Strome on the Isles depth chart, they don’t have a lot of use for him. With Michael Dal Colle and Josh Ho Sang pushing for a promotion from the AHL, maybe Strome’s time has come to an end in Brooklyn.
What would it cost?
The Canadiens could still hold interest in Strome, as he once showed he was capable of scoring 50 points. There are no centers behind Galchenyuk with that type of potential on the Canadiens roster.
Maybe if he is given preferential ice time with productive players, he gets back to playing better hockey. A second line role with Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher isn’t a bad spot for a young center.
The Isles won’t give Strome away, but they can’t be expecting a ton back in a trade either. The team actually has a lot of recent experience in trading away young top five picks who haven’t reached their potential.
In 2013, three years after taking Nino Niederreiter fifth overall, the Islanders sent him to the Minnesota Wild for Cal Clutterbuck and a third round pick. In 2015, three years after taking Griffin Reinhart fourth overall, the Edmonton Oilers acquired him for the 16th overall and 33rd overall picks in the draft.
If the Canadiens are going to entice the Islanders to move Strome, there would have to be a decent amount of value going the other way. If it were draft day and the Canadiens held one of the last five picks in the first round, I would suggest they use that pick. It’s a little early in the year to make that determination.
If not, a good young prospect who was recently a late first round pick would also be enough to get the Islanders to move Strome.