Islanders Ryan Strome Has Met Expectations

I know he’s out for the season with a wrist injury, but the Ryan Strome the Islanders had so much faith in is finally meeting expectations. He’s meeting mine at least.

Seven months ago I wrote an expectation piece for a few Islanders players, one of the was Ryan Strome. I had a single barometer for success: “produce 30-40 points”.

Life in 2016-17 started just like the season before it for Ryan Strome. By the seventh game of the season, he already had his fifth point. And then, just like 2015-16, he cooled off quick.

In his next 18 games, Strome collected just a single point. By this rate he’d have 25 points by the end of the season.

Must Read: Expectations Fro Ryan Strome in 16-17

After signing that two-year $5 million “show me” deal, the last thing Strome needed was a linear regression in his production. First 28 points in 2015-16 and now the potential for an even worse year? What was 2017-18 going to bring? Less than his 18 points in his rookie year?

For much of the 2016-17 Strome just continued to plug away. Hovering around a .30 points per game rate. Even in December when he put up seven points in 12 games. The highest he averaged was .39 points per game.

It took a coaching change to start getting better production numbers from Strome. By the time of his season-ending injury, Ryan was producing 0.44 points per game.

Aggregate that pace over a full season and we’ve got a 36 point player. Right where I thought he should be.

In four and a half months of Jack Capuano, Ryan Strome put up 14 points. In the two and a half months under Doug Weight, he put up 16.

Next: Isles Aren't A Playoff Team

We were finally seeing a better side of Ryan Strome. Maybe not the 2014-15 50 point Ryan Strome, but at least a Ryan Strome that was worth $2.5 million a season.