With the start of on-ice workouts at training camp beginning on Monday, the Blackhawks now have their full team under contract. The team announced that they’ve re-signed center Dylan Strome to a two-year, $6MM contract. GM Stan Bowman released the following statement about the deal:
We believe Dylan is ready to take the next step in his career and build off the strides he has made in his first two years in Chicago. He has great offensive instincts and brings creativity and skill to our team. We are thrilled he is now signed and able to join us tomorrow for the start of training camp.
The 23-year-old indeed finds himself in a situation to take the next step forward. With Jonathan Toews (illness) out indefinitely and Kirby Dach (wrist) out four-to-five months following a fractured wrist sustained in a preliminary game at the World Juniors, Strome is basically a near-lock to begin in Chicago’s top-six forward group, if not their top line. That should have him in line for a sizable jump in playing time from the 15:56 per game he had last season.
While he’s coming off of a quieter year, Strome has certainly shown flashes of offensive upside with the Blackhawks. Following his acquisition from Arizona in November of 2018, he had 17 goals and 34 assists in just 58 games, a level of production that would certainly warrant a spot inside the top six. Things didn’t go as well last season though as he managed just 12 goals and 26 assists in 58 games before the pandemic hit while chipping in with two goals and an assist in nine postseason contests. Nevertheless, he was still able to more than triple the AAV from his previous contract despite not having salary arbitration eligibility.
CapFriendly reports that the deal will pay him $2.4MM this season and $3.6MM next season. That means that his qualifying offer alone will guarantee a raise on his next contract in 2022 as it will check in at $3.6MM; in this case, both elements of the qualifying offer calculation (the preceding season salary or 120% of the AAV) come up to the same number.
Although the rash of injuries (which includes Alexander Nylander) has certainly eliminated some optimism heading into the upcoming season, there will still be a lot at stake for Strome. The third-overall pick in 2015 now has the opportunity to establish himself as a core piece for the Blackhawks and if that happens, they’ll get good bang for their buck on this contract. Chicago now finds themselves with around $1.3MM in cap room as things stand, an amount that could be boosted if they opt to place Dach and Nylander on LTIR to start the season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Don’t see how there could be any optimism at all for the Hawks this year. Bowman has run this team in to the ground while two of its best players in the history of the franchise are still in their prime and yet Rocky’s son felt this warranted a promotion for a guy that absolutely should’ve been shown the door.
I get it, franchises rise and fall and rise again. But Bowman has made far too many bonehead signings and trades. I’m not saying this is one of them. 3 mil per for Strome is fine. But Seabrook’s contract is one of the worst in the league. He keeps bringing back players that grossly underperform in their second stint. None of his defensive signings panned out last year and he did nothing in free agency this year.
This team has no direction whatsoever; no goalie, no upper tier or even second tier scoring after Kane. They can’t sell off any large contracts and the young core Stan’s built looks terrible in comparison to the young core that was there when he arrived. I’ll give him credit for Panarin, landing Teravainen at 18 and a few other scouting moments that paid off, but those two, arguably his best moves as GM, aren’t with the team anymore, which speaks to his utterly garbage ability to manage the cap.
I’ll watch this season because I want to see if any of these younger players develop in to anything, but what a trash way for Kane and Toews to play out the remaining years of their prime.
Couldn’t agree more. The number of bad deals, bad trades etc., is just staggering. I’m still mad about losing Panarin and Teravainen, but giving away Lehner is unforgivable. He had to know that he was going to low ball Cro, and Cro would say, “No Thanks.” If he didn’t know, shame on Bowman. This season is going to be a train wreck in Chicago with three AHL goalies.
Calm down! It’ll all be fine when we reacquire Brandon Saad!
See i think that was bowman downfall
Pitt and St. Louis won with goalies on rookie contracts we had 13 mill in goalies
Then he can’t wait to trade a #3 D man prospect then sigh De Haan for 4mill
Then trades panarin Hjalmerson