Last year he was playing on the 4rth line, of course his stats were shit.
Stramel won't run out the clock to UFA, I kinda expect him to sign after State is done, but that would likely mean he gets sent to Iowa to play in the A for bit. Go back to East Lansing for one more year and more likely to get an opportunity right away for the Wild. We'll see.
There’s a better chance of him playing four years because of the team that drafted him than playing four years if another team drafted him.
He's still extremely raw. He likely ends up a 3rd liner, but too early to rule out him taking another step or two. It’s very clear he is still just figuring things out. Could be we are only scratching the surface.
It could always be better, but I don’t know of many people who have questioned his skating over the years. He may not be prime Chris Kreider, but for 6’3 215 he skates pretty well and I think certainly at an NHL level.
He’s not yet filled out, so he’s going to get even stronger. Also, it’s clear he has skill he hasn’t learned how to employ. Skating is serviceable, above average when you consider his size. Pretty much the definition of raw. Players like him tend to take longer. I am wondering if we are watching the same player, TBH
I think Guerin needs to decide if he thinks Stramel is ready or not for the pro game this summer. If he is ready, the Wild should sign him. If he's not ready, Guerin needs to come to peace with the idea that he may not ever play for the Wild - if he develops enough, he'll be a college UFA and play wherever he wants, whereas if he doesn't develop enough, he won't make it onto the Wild anyway.
Stramel is UFA eligible August 15 2026. Would guess he's less likely to tell his hometown team to f*** off, unless they're not offering NHL ice time and other teams are.
It's hard for me to speak with conviction here, but I think he does, too. He was scoring pretty well this year but ran into a wall with only 2 points in his last 9 games. I'd like to see a consistent college player rather than an inconsistent pro player. He is still getting a decent amount of shots on goal, though, so it's not all bad.
That seems like a weird thing to fixate on. So he’s scored well all year, but has had one bad stretch.
In what I've watched, he's played well but not outstanding like Howard is.
The stats don't ever tell the whole story, but they do always tell some of the story. For me to have conviction on it, I need to hear from someone who has watched him play during this stretch of games. As I said, I can't speak from conviction about whether or not he's ready to move on, but this stretch gives me pause until I know more.
If that's the case, probably another year of NCAA would do him well. It's a big jump from NCAA to AHL, especially an AHL team as bad as the Iowa Wild.
I think they project very differently to the NHL.
Ah, I thought there might be a wrinkle in there... so Minnesota would have to offer him a contract and he'd have to turn it down?
I'm unsure, but I believe they get a pick even if they don't offer him a contract
