The newest member of the New York Rangers may seem offensively underwhelming based on his stats, but Ryan Strome has a lot more to offer than what fans see on the surface.
Earlier this month, the New York Rangers made a trade that seemed to come out of nowhere. They swapped out forward Ryan Spooner for another forward, Ryan Strome, former Edmonton Oiler.
New York retained $900,000 of Spooner’s salary, meaning that there was no impact on either teams salary cap. Furthermore, at the time of the trade, both players had just two points, one goal and one assist each.
This seemed like an extremely even exchange. However, in the short amount of time since then, the Rangers have looked like the clear winner.
Since the trade, Strome has recorded three points (one goal and two assists) in six games, bringing his point total to five (two goals and three assists) on the season. For what it’s worth, Spooner hasn’t appeared on the scoresheet in his six games with Edmonton (his last point was with the Rangers, a goal against the L.A. Kings on October 28th).
While five points in 24 games so far this season isn’t exactly a number associated with an elite player, Ryan Strome is a lot better than people give him credit for. In order to help people truly see the advantage that New York gained by acquiring the 25-year-old here are five goals he has scored that demonstrate his skill and potential.
#5 Islanders White and Blue Prospect Scrimmage, 2011
Though this is a bit of an older goal, it’s definitely one of Ryan Strome’s best. It happened at the New York Islanders Blue and White Game, a scrimmage between the organization’s best prospects and potential rookies for the upcoming season.
In a shootout challenge, Strome scored this mesmerizing goal. He skates across the ice, passing the puck between his legs, before executing a “spin-o-rama” type of move and scoring. Strome had been drafted just a few weeks before this scrimmage was held.
Going fifth overall in the draft , expectations were high for the then 18-year-old. This goal definitely helped to calm the nerves and ease the minds of many fans, with Strome showing them just what he was capable of.
Looking back, though this goal is still talked about when Ryan Strome is discussed, many argue that it doesn’t mean as much considering how his career has panned out so far, or since it was during a breakaway challenge of sorts. However, it could be used in an actual shootout situation, something Strome hasn’t seen a lot of in his career thus far (eight attempts in five full seasons, two made and six missed).