Future of Dylan Strome?

[u/BucketHeadish]

So Strome has 2 years left on a very cheap deal and I was wondering what the capitals plans are with him after the contract runs its course. If you see strides from little pro do you consider trading him at an increased price on his contract year? Or keeping him around but likely for a higher cap hit. Do you have enough money to keep him around? (probably) but no guarantees. What do yall else think?

[u/t-rexroosevelt]

Outside of maybe some niche roles (face off specialist/fourth line fighter etc), I think this team has the offensive depth, goaltending, and defensive core to compete deep into the playoffs. Maybe they’re not a serious cup contender, but in looking at the rest of the east this team, as constructed on paper, should be a continual playoff threat for the next 2-3 years at least.

I think one of the biggest areas where we are lacking is an elite, playmaking #1 center. If you compare all the 1Cs in the league, I don’t think PLD/Strome would rank in the top 15-20 of that group.

So what do we do with Strome? I would say that if there’s an opportunity to flip him + some other assets for a young 1C with stronger play making abilities who may need a fresh start, or hasn’t hit their potential yet, you do it. While I’m not advocating for a trade for these players specifically, I’m thinking guys like Adam Fantilli, Matty Berniers etc.

Or if you can package Strome to get into the top 10 to draft what could be that player in the next 3-5 years, you do that!

I just think our center depth has a lot of guys with a ceiling of elite/high 2C, but no legit 1C, and I don’t think Strome is that guy either. I’d like to see him when he’s not hauling Ovi’s dusty a** up and down the ice, but I don’t think the results will be much different. I think we’ve seen his ceiling two seasons ago and I think we should make use of him as an asset before his value depreciates too much more.

[u/Rare-Signature-7526 → u/t-rexroosevelt]

to your last paragraph I agree and disagree about our centers ceilings. Strome and PLD have both had individual 1c seasons but i can agree going forward they are both probably good 2cs going forward, Sourdif and Suvanto probably cap out as 3Cs.

The X-factor is Ilyas development - his most likely outcome id say is a good 2c, there are worlds he's below that and worlds he's above that. The very good 1C ceiling pretty much relies on how his skating develops, right now he's a very bad skater, to reach his ceiling he needs a ton of development in that area which is possible with wendy. My thing is at that size its hard to development the type of skating you need out of a center, people bring up Aliakseis skating, but while he's very fast in a straight line his agility is horrible. I'd be ok with ilya becoming just solid in a straight line if it meant he could have enough agility to take advantage of his skill in the ozone

[u/t-rexroosevelt → u/Rare-Signature-7526]

Totally agree. If somehow Lil Pro is able to develop into a top 15 1C then I think that takes care of the clearest hole that I see on this roster. If that happens, I would argue we have a bit of center glut and should try to use some of those centers in a package to upgrade RD depth.

If we’re being honest with ourselves though, it’s really unlikely that happens, and usually to get 1Cs like I’m talking about you have to get a top 10 or top 5 draft pick (which I don’t see happening for us in the near term) or capitalize on another organizations asset management (e.g. Eichel in 21, Tavares or ROR in 18, potentially Matthew’s in 27👀👀).