Does Ryan Strome Haunt the Islanders?

Last night, the Islanders got their doors blown off by the New York Rangers. It wasn't fun in the least and something to add to that displeasure was Sam Rosen spewing a narrative that just frankly doesn't exist.

In 20 career games against the Islanders, Ryan Strome has eight points (2 goals, 6 assists). Is Ryan Strome the one that got away? I don't know about you guys but I don't look at it that way in the slightest.

He was underperforming and the Islanders flipped him to Edmonton for Jordan Eberle. With Eberle on the team they went to the playoffs three times including two trips to the conference final. I'd do that trade over again if I had to knowing what we did at the time.

It took until 2020 for Ryan Strome to take off and the biggest reason behind that launch was the addition of Artemi Panarin. Strome and Panarin work excellent on a line together and sure when you just look at the point production he's had without any other context I suppose it could look bad that the Islanders "gave up on him".

I'm just unsure if Ryan Strome is producing at the rate he is on a team that doesn't have a player who is on his way to a 100 point season. I don't want to completely discredit Strome here, that's not fair either, but we can't pretend that a second line Ryan Strome playing with Josh Bailey and Kyle Palmieri is the same 50 point player that he is this year.

So I can't say that I agree with Sam Rosen's take. I don't think he haunts the Islanders at all. I have no distaste towards Strome but I certainly don't look at him as someone who has owned the Islanders since leaving, that's simply not true.