After hitting a career-high 17 goals and 50 points during the 2014-15 season, Strome saw his offensive numbers take a steep dip last season. He managed just eight goals and 28 points in 71 games.
His poor play even saw him sent down to the American Hockey League, where he put up two goals and two assists in eight games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.
The 23-year-old was picked fifth overall in the 2011 draft.
If the Ottawa Senators have their way, the team will host an outdoor game at Parliament Hill.
Despite past speculation linking an outdoor game to TD Place Stadium, the goal remains to play before the national capital.
Planning remains in the preliminary stages, with hopes to host the game in 2017.
"There's really only one option we've been working on and that's to try to find a way to make that game work on Parliament Hill," team president Cyril Leeder told TSN 1200. "(TD Place) is not an option we’ve looked at, at all, in any detail and we’ve been really focused on the Hill."
Senators owner Eugene Melynk likes the idea of the game played before a backdrop of Parliament Hill and the Peace Tower.
"That would be a fantastic way to really highlight (the Senators 25th anniversary season) and to have a national celebration of the game on Parliament Hill would be really exciting," Leeder added.
Bought out this summer after signing with the Minnesota Wild in 2014, Vanek believes he can rediscover his offense with the Red Wings.
"I know I can still play the game and score goals," Vanek told Mike Harrington from the Buffalo News. "For me the biggest thing was Minnesota just wasn't a good fit. It is what it is. There's no rhyme or reason for it."
In two seasons with the Wild, Vanek scored 52 and 41 points, respectively, while his production has slid for three straight seasons, down from 1.08 points per game in 2012-13.
He was a healthy scratch on more than one occasion last season, while an upper body injury saw him miss the entire postseason.
"I think being back in the East is going to help me and the way Detroit plays with smaller skilled guys, I think I can get to the front of the net and go to where I'm good at," Vanek added.
Buffalo Sabres rookie Alexander Nylander proved as much Monday during the NHL rookie tournament when he fired a sizzling wrist shot that sent the water bottle of the Boston Bruins netminder flying into the air.
Nylander - the younger brother of Toronto Maple Leafs forward William - is fighting for a roster spot with the Sabres, and If he scores more goals like that and he'll easily be shoe-in.
theScore is previewing each team leading up to the 2016-17 season.
Short summers are the best summers.
The Pittsburgh Penguins won their second Stanley Cup of the Sidney Crosby era in June, and the band's sticking together for at least another season.
Here are three questions facing Mike Sullivan's squad heading into 2016-17:
Why not?
Only one Penguin from the Cup-clinching game is no longer with Pittsburgh: Ben Lovejoy. While the defender played 20 minutes or more in three Stanley Cup Final games, his ice time is replaceable, especially with Trevor Daley healthy and Justin Schultz re-signed.
So the question isn't so much whether the Penguins can repeat - it's why not?
On Jan. 1, 2016, Pittsburgh had lost 19 games - 15 in regulation and four in extra time. The Penguins proceeded to lose just two January games in regulation, four in both February and March, and one in April - the final game of the regular season, in which the club benched its best players. Pittsburgh went into the new year with 19 wins in 38 games, and finished with 48 victories. The Cup win was no fluke, as the Penguins found their game under Sullivan, and then peaked in March.
The club closed the regular season in dominant fashion, winning 14 of its last 16 games, thanks to streaks of six and eight. The road got tougher in the playoffs, as it always does, but the Penguins needed only 24 games to win 16.
While repeating in any sport is difficult, it's that much harder in hockey. But nothing's changed in Pittsburgh, so there's no reason to think the Penguins' dominance will, either.
Forget about the Capitals - with their 56 wins and 120 points. The Penguins didn't care, needing only six games to eliminate Washington in the second round.
Pittsburgh's the best team in the NHL. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.
The kid shined in the playoffs, winning 15 of 21 starts and finishing with a .923 save percentage and 2.08 goals-against average. He's in the NHL record books alongside Ron Hextall, Patrick Roy, and Cam Ward for the most wins by a rookie goaltender in one postseason year. It was a historic run.
The flip side of that question - how do you take the net away from Marc-Andre Fleury? He's a lifelong Penguin, a Cup winner himself, and stood on his head while the Penguins searched - in vain - for their game early in the season.
Fleury's 2015-16 splits:
Month
SV %
Wins
Starts
October
.942
6
10
November
.910
5
9
December
.923
2
6
January
.923
6
10
February
.912
7
11
March
.916
9
12
Yes, the 31-year-old played his best hockey before the All-Star break, when the Penguins needed it most. But once Fleury went down with a head injury, Murray took over, and the rest is literally history.
The decision will certainly be impacted by economics - we're in a salary-cap world and there's an expansion draft on the way. Fleury's signed for three more years at $5.75 million, while Murray's making just $894,000 against the cap and set to hit restricted free agency.
When you think about it honestly, with emotions out of the way, the answer is easy, especially based on Murray's early play at the World Cup. He's the Penguins' goalie of the future - and the present. It's still on the Penguins to make the transition as pain-free as possible for Fleury. He's earned that respect.
What's in store for Sid, Kessel, Bonino?
Crosby's season mirrored Pittsburgh's. A slow start, then takeoff, then bliss. No. 87 added to his CV in the spring, winning his first Conn Smythe Trophy after a dominant two-way playoff run.
Month
SH%
October
3.3
November
11.4
December
9.8
January
22.9
February
22.9
March
12.3
April
26.7
Playoffs
8.7
Crosby also had 19 goals and 44 points in just 33 games after the All-Star break. He finished third in league scoring with 85 points, after hot takes of his decline were being written in November. Nobody knows anything.
So we'll wait and see how Sid responds after a dream season. But doubt the man at your peril.
Kessel had a disappointing regular season by his standards, especially based on his supporting cast. Everyone expected more than 26 goals and 59 points, but he lifted his game in the playoffs, leading the Pens in scoring and lifted the Cup, too. Perhaps after one season, the pressure's off, and Kessel will explode.
Bonino, meanwhile, finished with as many points - 18 - in the playoffs as Evgeni Malkin. You're lying if you saw that coming. The "HBK" line - Carl Hagelin, Bonino, and Kessel - will be one of the more interesting to watch in October. And for Bonino, it's a contract year.
Russia appeared somewhat listless for much of the first half of the game, even failing to record a shot on two consecutive power-play opportunities.
But after sustained pressure in the North American zone, the Russians got on the board thanks to Vladislav Namestnikov, who benefited from a favorable bounce off Matt Murray's pads.
Just 50 seconds later, Nikita Kucherov scored quickly off the draw to give the Russians a second-period lead. The floodgates opened for a bit at that point, as Evgeny Kuznetsov and Vladimir Tarasenko scored shortly thereafter to cap a spree of four goals in 6:14 for a 4-1 lead, chasing Murray from the net in favor of John Gibson.
Morgan Rielly - who led all players with seven shots - scored with just over two minutes left in the second period to cut the lead to 4-2 after 40 minutes, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins brought his team to within one early in the third period with a power-play marker.
The Under-23 squad poured it on in the remaining minutes, outshooting Russia 18-4 over the course of the final frame, including several during two separate two-man advantages.
Sergei Bobrovsky played a massive part in his side hanging on for the win, stopping 43 of 46 shots.
Both teams have two points with one game each left to play: North America is set to face Sweden, while Russia will play Finland.
More has been revealed about an upper-body injury that forced Aaron Ekblad to miss North America's World Cup game against Russia on Monday.
The defenseman is reportedly suffering from a "mild concussion," according to Craig Custance of ESPN.
The injury was reportedly sustained on a hit from Finland's Leo Komarov in North America's first game of the tournament.
Ekblad's availability going forward is yet to be determined, and North America general manager Peter Chiarelli referred to him as "day-to-day" during the second intermission of Monday's game.
"I’m not going to be surprised is he does sign there," Nill said, per Sean Shapiro of Wrong Side of the Red Line. "They know our offer, they know where we’re at. It’s his decision. I’m not going to stop that."
The Stars, however, would still retain Nichushkin's rights, and Nill suggested leaving the door open for an eventual return.
"The good news is he’s 21 years of age, he’s going to play over there and keep developing," Nill added. "I just hope we get a more mature player when he decides to come back over. It’s not the end of the world."
Nichushkin has appeared in 166 games for the Stars since being drafted 10th overall in 2013, recording 23 goals and 41 assists.
