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Looking to make the leap: Dylan Strome

Arizona Coyotes v Ottawa Senators

OTTAWA, CANADA - OCTOBER 18: Dylan Strome #20 of the Arizona Coyotes skates against the Ottawa Senators during his first career NHL game at Canadian Tire Centre on October 18, 2016 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Francois Laplante/FreestylePhoto/Getty Images)

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This post is a part of Coyotes day at PHT...

The top of the 2015 NHL draft has turned out to be a pretty successful one for the NHL with seven of the top-eight picks already establishing themselves as regulars, including several (Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, Zach Werenski, and Mitch Marner) that are either already All-Star level players or are on their way to being them.

The one exception out of that group to this point has been No. 3 overall pick Dylan Strome.

In the two seasons since he was drafted Strome has appeared in just seven games, recording just a single point, for the Arizona Coyotes.

Even though he hasn’t yet established himself the way several of his peers have he remains one of the key centerpieces of the Coyotes’ rebuild and has spent the past two years absolutely destroying the Ontario Hockey League as a member of the Erie Otters.

He is certainly going to get another opportunity to crack the Coyotes’ lineup this fall but general manager John Chayka already said earlier this month that the team is going to remain patient in bringing him along because they want him to be a 200-foot player that excels in all areas and isn’t simply playing “a depth role.”

That is a huge responsibility for a 20-year-old forward, and if that is what the Coyotes are expecting out of him it probably makes sense to be a little more patient with him. Looking at the Coyotes’ depth chart down the middle and they already have another young prospect in Christian Dvorak that started to make a bit of an impact last season by scoring 15 goals in his rookie season. They also picked up Derek Stepan from the New York Rangers in the big offseason trade for the No. 7 overall pick and defenseman Anthony DeAngelo.

Strome’s talent level is obvious, and given what he has done the past three seasons while playing for Erie it is pretty clear that he has nothing left to prove at that level after recording 75 points in only 35 games this past season.

That would have been a 145-point pace over a 68-game season, a number that would have shattered his previous high in the OHL (he had 129 points in 68 games during the 2014-15 season).

The offensive skill is clearly there, now it is just a matter of if he can show the Coyotes’ front office and coaching staff the 200-foot play away from the puck that will get him a significant role in the NHL.