The Islander report cards for the 16/17 season roll on today and we come to the enigma that is Ryan Strome. As we look back on the 15/16 season I wrote that Strome was the single most disappointing player on the roster. How did he fair in 16/17?

Well, if former Head Coach Jack Capuano wasn't fired it may had been another lost season for the former fifth overall pick. Outside of John Tavares, Capuano could not develop the skilled players on this team to reach something close to their full potential. Now a lot of the responsibility is on the player too but Cappy with a skilled forward was about as useful as me with an IKEA instruction manual.

After Doug Weight stepped in Strome's play surged for the first 15 games where he had 14 points in that span. He then went cold again before finally having his season cut short with a season ending injury. In 69 games Strome had 13 goals and 17 assists. A modest improvement from the disaster that was the previous year. While it doesn't look like much of an improvement I still feel their is something here.

Strome looked like a NHL caliber player again once Weight took over and for all the knocks on him, he tried to make himself noticed even when he wasn't scoring. Finally he was one of the few Isles that actually stood up for his teammates even in the preseason. Their is talent here, Head Coach Doug Weight has to find a way to harness it and Strome needs to find it consistently. Considering that Strome flunked out of the previous season I think in 16/17 his final grade will be a C. However moving forward, if Strome is still with this team, average cannot be status quo. The team needs SO much more from Ryan.

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