The NHL trade deadline is noon PST on Friday, March 7, and it seems destined to provide an underwhelming morning as several significant trades have already taken place this season.
Ryan Strome’s New Tape Job Coinciding With Ducks Victories
Mikko Rantanen, Martin Necas, JT Miller, and Marcus Pettersson have all been moved and are carving roles out on their respective new depth charts.
The flurry of trades has left annual “trade target” lists from every media outlet slimmer than typical at this time of year.
Anaheim Ducks John Gibson and Brian Dumoulin are featured on nearly every such list, justifiably so given where the Ducks sit in the standings and their salary cap situation.
Gibson’s noted desire to play for a contender, coupled with his Vezina-caliber play through 54 games this season, has made him a fixture on trade target lists. Dumoulin is a two-time Stanley Cup champion who can fit into any system and, with maximum retention, would only cost an acquiring team just over $1.5 million against their cap.
In his most recent “NHL Trade Board” article from Feb. 7, The Athletic’s Chris Johnston added Ducks forward Ryan Strome at number 28 of 32 players to his list of top targets heading into the NHL 4 Nation’s Face-Off break.
This comes as a bit of a surprise because Strome, along with Frank Vatrano, was one of Pat Verbeek’s first free agency signings in the summer of 2022 and is in year three of a five-year contract that carries an AAV of $5 million but doesn’t have trade protection.
He’s on-pace for his season-high in points since joining the Ducks, as he has 30 points (7-23=30) in 54 games in 2024-25 after back-to-back seasons of 41 points in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Strome has been deployed as the Ducks’ first-line center this season, primarily on a line between Troy Terry and Vatrano. During home games, with the last change, head coach Greg Cronin has often matched up Strome’s line against opposing top lines. He’s also worn an “A” as an alternate captain since the departure of Cam Fowler in Dec.
“I’ve known him since he was 19 or 20, when he was with the Islanders,” Cronin said of Strome. “He was a young kid like these guys (on the roster) are now, so it’s unique for me to be able to talk with him, and he can see the game through their eyes because he was their age when I was coaching with the Islanders back then.
“It’s easy to have a conversation with him, and he can bridge that gap between the young kids and himself. What he’s done a really good job of is taking the coaches’ messages and sprinkle it across the room.”
“He’s not a ‘rah rah,’ in your face type of guy, but he’s a likable guy. He’s got a calmness to him, and he’s also got some bite to him. We’ve seen him fight, he’s fearless. I think he’s got a nice combination of toughness and wisdom and communication skills to bond the group together.”
Those intangible attributes, compounded with how he is viewed in the locker room and within the organization, make it difficult to visualize a scenario where Strome is moved before the March. 7 deadline. Especially with the Ducks creeping up the standings and belief they’re turning a long-awaited corner on their rebuild.
However, when discussing the possibility of a potential Trevor Zegras trade, Verbeek’s response is typically in the vein of an “even Wayne Gretzky was traded” response. If Verbeek is consistent, and that logic applies to Strome, he can be had for the right price (though it would likely be high).
If a team were looking to add Strome, they’d be getting one of the more versatile play-builders/connectors that could add a layer of offense to their middle six.
They would be acquiring one of the most reliable players in the league on a decent cap hit when considering the direction it’s projected to go in. Strome rarely misses significant time due to injury. The most time he’s missed in a season has been 13 games in 2016-17.
He’s displayed a noticeably improved effort on the defensive side of the puck this season, but his value comes with his vision and playmaking ability. Though not the fleetest of foot, he diagnoses defensive structures well from the perimeter and can find teammates in dangerous areas of the ice, especially from below the goal line.
Seeing Strome’s name on a respected NHL insider’s trade list is surprising, and an actual trade involving the 12-year veteran would be borderline shocking at this juncture, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and there are a lot of potentially desperate teams in playoff races this season.
Report: Gibson’s Preferences, Wants to be Number One Starter
