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Dylan Strome making most of fresh start with Blackhawks

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Jeremy Roenick prepares for the 2019 NHL Winter Classic on January 1 at 1 p.m. by getting into character and learning Irish stepdance.

NBC’s coverage of the 2018-19 NHL season continues with the 2019 Winter Classic between the Boston Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks. Coverage begins at 1 p.m. ET from Notre Dame Stadium on Tuesday. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.

When the Arizona Coyotes made Dylan Strome the No. 3 overall pick in the 2015 NHL draft, right after Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel went first and second respectively, they were hoping he was going to be a cornerstone player for their rebuild. Even though everyone knew he wasn’t going to be on the same level as the two eventual superstars that went ahead of him he was still an outstanding talent with top-line potential.

For whatever reason, though, it just never panned out for him with the Coyotes.

Arizona tried to bring him along slowly so that he could be a full 200-foot player when he arrived in the NHL, but despite his continued dominance offensively in the Ontario Hockey League and American Hockey League it never really translated to anything with the Coyotes.

Earlier this season, the team decided to move on and sent him to the Chicago Blackhawks for a trade package that was centered around Nick Schmaltz.

It was a great gamble for the Blackhawks.

The salary cap, some questionable roster moves and few impact players coming through the farm system had decimated their depth in recent years and put them in a spot where it was going to be difficult to find potential impact talent. As I argued at the time, a player like Strome was a perfect player for a team like the Blackhawks to take a chance on. He has natural high-end talent, he has excelled at every level prior to the NHL, and has the pedigree of a top-three pick from just a couple of years ago. If he doesn’t pan out, the price wasn’t all that much to pay, especially when they got a comparable player to Schmaltz (Brendan Perlini) in the deal.

If he does pan out, it is going to be a steal.

Even though it has only been a few weeks, the early returns on the deal from a Chicago perspective show Strome seems to be making the most of his fresh start.

Entering Tuesday’s Winter Classic against the Boston Bruins, Strome has already recorded 13 points in his first 17 games with the Blackhawks. That is a 60-point pace over 82 games, and with seven points in his past three games he is one of the big reasons the Blackhawks are playing some of their best hockey of the season with wins in five of their past six games.
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What helps for the Blackhawks is that he is, at least in theory, exactly the type of player they need. Not only because he is still only 21 years old and flashing some of the potential that made him a top-three pick, but because he is still signed for next season on his entry-level contract that will only count $867,000 against the salary cap.

He’s obviously still an unfinished product, and a part of his early point production with the Blackhawks is the result of a 17 percent shooting percentage that will almost certainly regress. He is also getting an opportunity to play alongside one of the league’s best offensive players in Patrick Kane (who has been especially hot in recent games with 12 points during this recent surge by the Blackhawks), but even with all of that the early returns for the Blackhawks have to be encouraging.

If they are going to find a way to re-open their championship window in the Jonathan Toews-Kane era they are going to need to find some young blood that can make a big impact.

Perhaps they have found one in Strome?

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.