When looking back at the NHL draft class from 2015, some of the biggest superstars of today’s game were a part of it: Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel, and Mitch Marner.
But so too, was Capitals’ center Dylan Strome. Strome was picked third overall by the Arizona Coyotes one spot ahead of Marner.
He eclipsed the Toronto Maple Leafs winger in another way as well.
Strome grew up in a world of hockey where he often found himself in the shadow of his brother. As he progressed through the many levels of youth hockey in Toronto, Strome was commonly known as “Ryan’s Brother.” In his early years, Dylan fought hard to differentiate himself from his older brother.
Strome played his entire junior career with the OHL’s Erie Otters, a franchise that won 50 games four consecutive seasons during his playing days there (2013-2017), and won the OHL championship in 2017.
As Erie geared up for the last game of the 2014-15 regular season, they had already clinched a playoff spot, and were playing for a major milestone.
“We had 49 wins on the season,” Stome said on the Capitals’ podcast Break The Ice. “50 wins is kind of a big deal in the OHL because you only play 68 games.”
While the team was battling for that accolade, Strome had his sights set on his own personal accomplishment. Before puck drop of that final game, Mitch Marner sat at the top of the OHL leaderboard with 126 points. Strome had 123. The two were good friends, and had exchanged texts before the game.
“He texted me once, and obviously I watched all of his games to see how many I had to get to beat him, obviously we’re really good friends and this won’t define that,” Strome said.
When Erie’s coach Kris Knoblauch entered the locker room that night, he had two things to say to his team.
“We had already secured a playoff spot, we couldn’t move in the standings,” Strome described. “I was three points behind Marner going in to the last day … Kris Knobluach came in before the game and said, ‘Obviously we’re going for the 50th win tonight and we’ve also got something else to play for’ and he mentioned to the whole team that I was four points away from getting the scoring title. It’s something that sticks out to me of just how great of a coach and how good of a mentor he was to me, that’s something I’ll never forget.”
Strome notched two goals in the first period alone, including an equalizer to take the game to a tie heading in to the second period. During the second, Strome put another past Niagara IceDogs goaltender Brandon Hope after a difficult pass from Darren Raddysh. Strome’s goal tied Marner for the point title, and gave him his first career hat trick. Just over a minute later, Strome assisted Mason Marchment on a power-play goal to take the lead.
If that wasn’t enough, Strome scored another goal early in the third period and had a late assist to give him six points on the night. The performance helped push Erie to an electric 8-7 win over the Niagara IceDogs.
“It was probably the best I’ve ever played, the best game of my life,” Strome said. “Sometimes when I see the highlights I just pinch myself, I remember every single goal from that whole game.”
After that night, Strome had 129 points to beat Marner by three points and teammate Connor McDavid by nine heading in to the OHL postseason. Erie would make it to the OHL Finals for the first time in 13 years, but lose in five games to the Oshawa Generals.
Later that year, Strome heard his name called third in the draft, one before Marner. Amidst a year of great accomplishments, a year where he may get forgotten, Dylan Strome’s work ethic proved why he was held so highly that year, and so many years after.
