The Coyotes made their final cuts Sunday, with Matthias Plachta, Louis Domingue and Dylan Strome all failing to make the team.
I'll get to Strome in a second, but for me the the real disappointment is Plachta being cut. I don't necessarily think it makes much of a difference in how the team will perform, but when a player essentially comes out of nowhere and almost makes the team but doesn't because the team is employing a cheap-shot artist / enforcer to play five or six minutes every third game or so, I find that disappointing.
However, it is what it is so no use in complaining about it anymore- I doubt the John Scott experiment lasts too long anyways, plus someone is bound to get injured and no doubt Plachta will get his shot.
As for Strome, I wanted him to make the team for several reasons:
1. The Coyotes have zero offense and he likely is their most gifted player.
2. I think concerns over ECL contracts are massively overblown.
3. I feel that most kids his age and talent level do go straight to the NHL most of the time. (Strome in a normal year likely would have been a #1 pick).
4. While it certainly wouldn't hurt him to get bigger, I doubt he'd be the smallest or weakest player in the NHL if he did end up playing.
5. He'd give the fans something to be happy about and enjoy.
6. I honestly believe that for someone who wants to be one of the best in the world at something, harder competition is better for their growth than dominating an easier league.
7.I don't think it's smart or creative to tank this season and I think Strome makes the Coyotes a better team: it's simple enough to shelter him a bit and ease him into tougher matchups.
8. This isn't so much a reason to keep him as it is a general comment: I find the discourse surrounding this whole subject to be all wrong. Is it sometimes bad to rush a kid to the NHL? Of course, but it's frustrating how people in general apply a one-size-fits-all either/or opinion to this topic.
Not all players, situations or teams are the same. Also, the false comparisons are out of control: It makes no sense to apply the Coyotes failures of the past (Mueller, Turris, Boedker) to Dylan Strome. I feel like the "failure because of being rushed" label is applied retroactively to every player who doesn't make it and that there is at least some evidence that young players can be successful in the NHL.
Probably kids used to be rushed with regularity and today we are seeing the pendulum swing back too far in the other direction right now than is healthy.
But even so, what I find to be the worst part of this whole thing is that everyone accepts it at face value that going back to Junior is a no-lose scenario and that it's for-sure the best thing long-term. That may be true, but what evidence do we have?
As for Strome and the Coyotes decision, I am disappointed, no doubt. However, I would be less disappointed if I trusted the judgement of the people making this decision. I believe that Maloney and Tippett are far too attached to a core group of players who have failed to really ever accomplish anything. I believe they made a terrible error in bringing back Vermette and Michalek and not finding new homes for Doan, Smith and perhaps even Boedker.
I see a management team that failed miserably to acquire even a single impact player over this past summer after finishing a season that would have found them last in the NHL if not for an improbable 5-0 record against Edmonton.
And finally, I see a GM who traded for Grossmann, signed John Scott and then made one of the most inexplicable roster moves in recent NHL history when he traded a highly touted defensive prospect who plays a position the Coyotes are weak at (Gormley) in exchange for a failed prospect who plays a position the Coyotes are strong at (Elliott).
Bottom line: at this point I'm feeling that if Maloney thought the best thing to do was to send Strome back to Junior, then he should have done the opposite.
But then again, I never said I was going to divorce myself from my emotions completely. 43.9% objectivity is the best I can muster. In the end, it is very possible that the long-term future of the Coyotes is best served with this move. Fact is, we all have our opinions, but no one really knows.
Thanks for reading.