Arizona Coyotes send Dylan Strome back to junior

Center Dylan Strome’s stint with the Coyotes this season lasted much longer than his stay a year ago when he was among the cuts at training camp.

But the 19-year-old still didn’t end up with a permanent gig in the NHL as the Coyotes returned Strome to junior Sunday.

“Dylan has made exceptional progress and continues to make strides to being an elite center in this league," General Manager John Chayka said in a statement released by the team. "At this point in time we felt it was best for his development to get him back playing in junior, but his future in the NHL is very bright.”

Strome appeared in seven games with the Coyotes after making the initial 23-man roster out of camp, securing one of the spots that the team appeared to open up for youngsters during the offseason. The Coyotes bought out the final season of Antoine Vermette’s contract and decided not to re-sign Boyd Gordon.

Christian Dvorak and Laurent Dauphin also cracked the roster, giving the team five centers with Brad Richardson and Martin Hanzal also on the books, and Strome emerged early on as the odd-man out.

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Hyped as a creative playmaker, a skill set that appealed to the Coyotes when they drafted him third overall in 2015, Strome was a healthy scratch for Game No. 1. The Coyotes were mindful of their mix, not wanting to overload their lineup with youth, and Strome and Dvorak seemed to fill the same second-line role while Dauphin carved out a niche as a depth option on the fourth unit.

“It is a balance,” coach Dave Tippett said earlier this season. “You gotta make sure you’re not putting them in bad situations, situations that they really can’t handle.”

Strome made his NHL debut Oct. 18 against the Senators, tallying an assist in that game for his first and only NHL point. He played two more games before sitting four straight – a pattern of dressing for three then watching four that repeated itself before he played his seventh game Thursday against the Canucks.

In total, Strome averaged 13:41 of ice time. He put six shots on net and won 40.3 percent of faceoffs.

Since he didn’t play 10 games, the first year of his entry-level contract remains intact.

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“When you make a mistake in this league, it leads to the back of your net,” Strome said previously. “You find that out very quickly, and you gotta find a way to change that. You gotta work on your defensive game, and obviously the speed is something where you gotta get loose pucks and be quick to them.”

Even though he played sporadically, the Coyotes made it clear Strome was still gaining valuable experience by simply being in the NHL. He practiced against men, worked with skating coach Dawn Braid and learned about the professional lifestyle.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Just send them back to junior and they can play there 25 or 30 minutes and get a lot of bad habits,’ ” Tippett said last month. “Or they can play in the NHL (and) mature as a pro player.”

With that in mind, remaining with the Coyotes seemed like it could be the best option for Strome’s development – especially since it looks like he might have outgrown the competition in junior hockey. He amassed 111 points, including 37 goals, in 56 games last season and had 45 goals and 129 points in 68 games in 2014-15.

“At some point, you have to go through that process to get a player to be an NHL-caliber style of player, and that’s the process they’re going through right now,” Chayka said earlier this season. “So we could delay that 12 months and just say, ‘OK, go back to junior. We’ll deal with you in 12 months.’ But that, to me, is just kicking the can down the road.”

Tippett, however, did acknowledge at one point that the 6-foot-3, 194-pound Strome still had some growing to do physically.

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More insight on the team’s decision should come Monday as the Coyotes were off Sunday and unavailable to discuss the move.

“We look at what’s best for the player’s development,” Chayka said previously. “What are his needs? Are his needs being satisfied here? Is he showing progress on those things here, or conversely would they be better served in junior? That’s what you’re looking at. And then at the same time … you’re trying to balance the team and what are the team’s needs? How do we win every night?”

The minors might have been the best backdrop for Strome at this point in his career since he would be able to compete against pros while working on his positioning and getting used to the quicker speed of play in the professional ranks – adjustments Strome realized he had to make. But since he was drafted out of the Canadian Hockey League, Strome is ineligible for the American Hockey League until he's 20 years old.

"I think there is some players that come through that from the NHL’s standpoint, to be an NHL player from their standpoint, there are some exceptions where a player would be better in the American League," Tippett said. " … (Strome’s) a good example of a player that would fall into that category.”

Strome will rejoin the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League. He seems like a shoo-in to make Canada’s World Junior team, an experience that Strome has said he would embrace if given the opportunity.

Although Strome wanted to stick in the NHL, he mentioned in October how he would look to for the silver lining if he was eventually returned to junior.

“People say there’s nothing left to do in junior, but I’ve never won a league title. I’ve never won a Memorial Cup,” Strome said. “Obviously, that doesn’t cross my mind that I want to do that. But at the same time if you did get sent back, you have to look at the positives and the positives are that I’ve never done that before.”

Reach the reporter at sarah.mclellan@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8276. Follow her at twitter.com/azc_mclellan.