Arizona Coyotes Dylan Strome Wants To Help With Rebuild

After being chosen third overall behind McDavid and Eichel, Arizona Coyotes’ Strome is ready to jump into the NHL, but is he ready?

For Dylan Strome, the 2015 NHL Draft got really interesting to him personally, at the third selection.

Strome knew, like everyone else, that Connor McDavid, his teammate with the Eire Otters of the OHL, would be chosen first, and Jack Eichel second respectably in the draft.

He also knew that it would be either him, or defenseman Noah Hanifin, or forward Mitch Marner. Strome went at number three, and Marner was next who went to the Maple Leafs, followed by Hanifin who was chosen by Carolina at number five.

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Strome told NHL.com’s Mike Brophy:

"“It was definitely an uplifting thing when I was chosen behind [McDavid and Eichel],” Strome said. “Arizona saw something in me, and I hope to prove they made the right choice. That’s all I can do. I was extremely happy to be picked third and to be the first pick in that second wave of the draft. It was cool.”"

The 6-foot-3, 185-pound center led the OHL in scoring last season with 129 points (45 goals) for the Otters.

After the first two picks there were nervous moments as to who would be selected next. Strome thought it got kinda monotonous.

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“The tough part was being asked the same questions over and over again,” Strome said. “You heard them every day. People can make predictions if they want, but in the end it’s up to the team that is drafting and that’s all that really matters. You can listen to the media all you want about where you are going to end up, but at the end of the day it is whatever a certain team wanted.”

The Arizona Coyotes are on the hunt for some scoring, since last season their 2.01 goals per non-shootout games was as mediocre as it was frustrating. Strome is chirping right in that he wants to help in that area. The way Arizona Coyotes GM Don Maloney likes to ease young prospects into NHL play, that will be a factor in deciding if Strome will stay or go back to lead his OHL team one more year.

Strome thinks he is NHL ready now, and will be trying to show management that he is the real thing in training camp coming up at the end of the week for rookies reporting. He faces stiff competition in Max Domi, Anthony Duclair, Henrik Samuelsson, Brendan Perlini, and Christian Dvorak, all vying for a spot as well.

“I think you want to get to the NHL as quick as possible,” Strome said. “Also, you don’t want to disappoint the team that drafted you. You want to be good for the team that picked you so high and you want to be part of the new culture, because obviously the team was pretty low in the standings if you were drafted that high. You want to bring them back to where they were in the past. It’s cool to hopefully be part of a rebuild.”

Strome, who is 18 mentioned this past summer was like none other he experienced. He worked on pumping his body strength up, in preparation for possible NHL competition. He’s also learned about the commitments and distractions which occur during a draft year.

After his season ended, Strome traveled to Quebec, site of the Memorial Cup, for the Canadian Hockey League awards; to Chicago for a Stanley Cup Playoff game; to Buffalo for the NHL Scouting Combine; to Sunrise, Fla., for the draft; and then to Arizona to meet with his new team. He said in between his travels he made sure he got his workouts in.

Of course it helps, Strome said, to have an older brother who has already carved the same path.

Ryan Strome, 22, was chosen by the New York Islanders with the fifth pick in 2011. He scored 17 goals and had 50 points in 81 games with the Islanders in 2014-15, his first full season in the NHL.

Dylan Strome said his brother is his role model.

“He does so many things for me that people don’t see,” Dylan said. “He helps me and my younger brother [Matt, who plays with the OHL’s Hamilton Bulldogs] so much by telling us about his experiences. You learn so much from a guy who has done the same things as you are doing. Since I was 5 I followed in his footsteps.”

Strome said he expects to play in the NHL this season. That of course, is yet to be determined. His play during training camp will have a huge bearing on where he will strap his skates on this new season.

“Yeah, that is my goal,” Strome said. “There’s no question that I feel I can be there. It’s obviously going to be a tough task to get there and it doesn’t happen for too many 18-year-olds, and there’s going to be one [McDavid] who does it this year. I’m hoping I can be that second guy who makes a mark and helps Arizona get back to its winning ways.”

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