NHL Trade Grade: Chicago Blackhawks take a flyer on Dylan Strome
Our latest NHL trade grade takes a look at the trade that sent Dylan Strome and Brendan Perlini from the Arizona Coyotes to the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Chicago Blackhawks and Arizona Coyotes love making trades with each other. On Sunday night, they made yet another one. Most of their previous trades revolved around the Coyotes taking on salary from the Blackhawks. This one, however, was different because the pieces involved are all younger players. The Coyotes sent forwards Brendan Perlini and Dylan Strome to the Blackhawks in exchange for Nick Schmaltz.
This trade is especially notable because the oldest of the players (Schmaltz) is still just 22 years old. Both Schmaltz and Perlini were drafted in the 2014 draft while Strome was selected with the third overall pick of the 2015 draft. Though each member of the trio has shown potential, they have been struggling as of late. With both teams looking to shake things up, they became expendable.
These circumstances make this trade a very difficult one to grade. Each player is young enough to grow into a solid NHL player. And Perlini and Schmaltz, to varying degrees, have been solid NHL players as recently as last season.
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Perlini put up a career-high 30 points and 17 goals last season. So far this season, he has six points in 22 games. Perlini’s shooting percentage is five percent (a huge drop from his previous two seasons) and his relative CorsiFor percentage is in the green for the first time in his career.
So there is some reason for optimism regarding Perlini. But he alone doesn’t justify giving up Schmaltz, who put up 50 points last season and has 11 points in 23 games this season.
The crown jewel of this trade from the Blackhawks perspective is Strome. He’s often thought of as a disappointment, as he’s best known as the guy selected right after Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel in 2015.
Related Story. Grading The Coyotes Side Of The Trade. light
Strome has six points in 20 games and 15 points in his last 41. His skating will likely hold him back from being a true impact player, but he has enough skill to be a solid top-nine forward at some point. Strome has a positive relative CorsiFor percentage over the past two seasons. Granted, it’s a fairly small sample size. But still, it’s certainly promising.
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It’s surprising to see the Blackhawks give up on Schmaltz so quickly. They were reportedly working on extending him, as he is scheduled to be a restricted free agent at the end of the 2018-19 season. This shows how highly they think of both Perlini and Strome.