Dylan Strome and Blackhawks Agree to Contract

Oh, thank goodness. I don’t know about you, but I was not wanting to talk about Training Camp with the question of Dylan Strome’s status still lingering. Strome and the Blackhawks put us out of our misery this afternoon by finalizing his contract extension.

Whether you like the deal or not, at least we don’t have to speculate anymore.

So, what’s the deal?

Dylan Strome signed a two-year $6 million dollar contract ($3m AAV).

Sure, maybe it’s too rich for what we’ve gotten from him, but I just can’t bring myself to be angry about it. Without Strome, the Blackhawks were looking at starting the season with a Center lineup of Carl Soderberg, David Kampf, Lucas Wallmark, Ryan Carpenter, Zack Smith, and potentially Mattias Janmark. Yeesh – and some of these guys are better on the wing.

 Did you notice the two notable absences? Yeah, Jonathan Toews and Kirby Dach. It’s uncertain when Toews will return due to questionable health issues. The Blackhawks will be without Kirby Dach until, at least, March as he recovers from a broken wrist.

Look, if you want to argue and say the Blackhawks should have signed Strome sooner when he didn’t have every single piece of leverage against the Hawks, I would agree with you. But, they didn’t. And, in the position they’ve found themselves in, this contract doesn’t really bother me.

 Dylan Strome has every opportunity to come out this season and prove that he deserves this contract or potentially show that he deserved more in the end. He will be playing on the first or second line – so he will be stapled to Alex DeBrincat or Patrick Kane OR both. If the prospect of proving his worth does not light a fire under him – well, then the contract is really going to suck.

I’m going to choose to hope for the best and say that this contract will look good for the Blackhawks. Or, at the least, it won’t be one that absolutely destroys the 2021-22 season.

We’ll just have to see.