Ryan Strome is among a small group of Edmonton Oilers that are new to the team for this upcoming season. Strome played the 2016/17 season with the New York Islanders in the Eastern Conference. He was traded from them to the Oilers a couple months ago in exchange for Jordan Eberle, a long-term Oiler that will be a notable missing face in the Edmonton lineup when games startup. Strome interviewed recently and on the pertinent matter of what position he will play, the forward said he would accept whatever forward position that head coach Todd Mclellan assigned to him.
Strome adds to Oilers forward depth
The Oilers are a team loaded with quality centers. The obvious talents are Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, two players that both signed lucrative long-term deals to play in Edmonton over the offseason. However, Mark Letestu is a center that would play big minutes for most teams around the NHL. Meanwhile, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is another player that could play center although the buzz around him is that he will likely move over to the wing, a topic he himself addressed in his own recent interview. One thing that is for certain is that the Oilers have some backup plans for the most important skating position if they face any kind of injury problems in the upcoming season.
"I played center in junior," Strome said when commenting on his experience in the position, "but most of my pro I've been playing wing." The comment came after he informed the entourage of reporters around him that he would be comfortable playing either right wing or center.
Strome liked what he saw of 2016/17 Oilers
Strome also interviewed earlier in the summer and during his more recent interview, he echoed some comments he made at that time.
When he was asked about team expectations he wasn't able to make comments based on first-hand experience due to the fact that he's new to the team. However earlier this summer Strome claimed that he watched the Oilers on television during the playoffs in the spring and was impressed by them. He said that people he knew claimed that they were "blown away" by how good the Oilers were last season.
He made similar remarks this week in his training-camp interview. When it comes to team expectations, Connor Mcdavid has stated recently that they will be settled in the locker room as opposed to by outside commentators.
The Oilers' preseason starts on Monday with a split-squad game against the Calgary Flames. There are other preseason games to be played before the Oilers open the season on October 4th, again against the Flames.