Sarah McLellan

azcentral sports

The Coyotes have been mindful not to overload their lineup with youth, wanting to slot players in situations that give them a chance to succeed, and that juggling act was apparent during their now-completed six-game road trip.

None of the rookies played every game, and the Coyotes used a lineup that included all five only once with three youngsters skating in the win Thursday that snapped the five-game funk that headlined their trek.

But not everyone has had the same amount of opportunity.

Center Dylan Strome has played the least, appearing in only three games and sitting as a healthy scratch four times, and this early season trend of Strome being the odd-man out has put the spotlight on his development and whether or not the NHL is best for him at this time.

“My main goal is to stay up here and play in the NHL and produce up here and start my life,” Strome said. “That’s what I’m trying to do.”

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At 19 years old, Strome is still eligible for junior hockey and can be returned to the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League.

A decision by the Coyotes, who host the Avalanche on Saturday, could come after the 2015 third-overall pick plays nine NHL games; once he skates in 10, Strome will have burned the first season off his entry-level deal, and many teams tend to determine where a player should be before potentially wiping a contract year off the books.

“I’m worried about my fourth game, not my ninth,” said Strome, who hasn't been focusing on the benchmark.

Arizona has the same option with 18-year-old defenseman Jakob Chychrun and 19-year-old winger Lawson Crouse, and although team brass has yet to decide long-term homes for all of their rookies, Chychrun and Crouse have had more ice time to make a case to stick with the Coyotes. Same with centers Christian Dvorak and Laurent Dauphin, who can be sent to the minors unlike the teenagers.

“Every player is different,” coach Dave Tippett said. “We continue to monitor our guys every day, and when we get to those nine-game thresholds with them, we’ll make those decisions not as a group but as individual players.”

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Returning to junior would give Strome regular game action, but it isn’t a given he’d actually benefit from it.

After racking up 129 points in 2014-15 to tie for the Canadian Hockey League scoring title with fellow Arizona prospect Conor Garland, Strome tallied 111 points last season – production totals that suggest he might have outgrown the competition.

“People say there’s nothing left to do in junior, but I’ve never won a league title. I’ve never won a Memorial Cup,” Strome said. “Obviously, that doesn’t cross my mind that I want to do that. But at the same time if you did get sent back, you have to look at the positives and the positives are that I’ve never done that before.”

Strome has also never earned gold at the World Junior Championship, an opportunity he could get if he were back in junior – although the Coyotes could opt to loan Strome to the tournament if they wanted.

Still, the team has made it clear there is plenty of upside to being under its guidance in the NHL.

“I don’t think you can understand all the other elements other than playing,” Tippett said. “Playing is where everybody critiques him, but there’s a lot of other elements that young players have to go through to get up to NHL speed, and we want to make sure all those elements are in place.”

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General Manager John Chayka has been impressed with Strome’s work ethic; Strome’s spending extra time on the practice ice and doing workouts off it. While Chychrun and Crouse already have NHL size, the Coyotes feel Strome still has growing to do.

“It’s easy to say, ‘Just send them back to junior and they can play there 25 or 30 minutes and get a lot of bad habits,’ ” Tippett said. “Or they can play in the NHL (and) mature as a pro player.”

The Coyotes could also just be postponing the inevitable if they trim junior-eligible players like Strome from their roster because these prized prospects will eventually have to make the transition.

“At some point, you have to go through that process to get a player to be an NHL-caliber style of player, and that’s the process they’re going through right now,” Chayka said. “So we could delay that 12 months and just say, ‘OK, go back to junior. We’ll deal with you in 12 months.’ But that, to me, is just kicking the can down the road.”

What does separate Strome from his peers is the role he maintains; while Dvorak, Crouse, Dauphin and Chychrun can play lower in the lineup, Strome likely needs to be in the top-six to maximize his potential.

“He’s put good work in,” Tippett said. “He just knows that he has to get up to NHL speed and when he does that, he’s going to be a real good player.”

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Improving his skating has long been on Strome’s radar, and he has put time in with coach Dawn Braid. But the pace of play isn’t the only adjustment.

“I just feel like everyone’s in the right position,” he said. “No one’s out of position and being a young guy, when you get caught out of position – I know I have a few times – obviously they’re going to make you pay. They’re going to capitalize on your mistakes.”

Although he isn’t susceptible to those lapses when he’s watching from the press box, Strome wants to work his way back into the mix to prove he can be better.

When that happens isn’t up to him.

Nor is where he will actually settle for the season.

But Strome does have a preference.

“I want to be playing,” he said, “but I want to be playing in the NHL. That’s the way I look at it.”

Reach the reporter at sarah.mclellan@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8276. Follow her at twitter.com/azc_mclellan.

Saturday's game

Avalanche at Coyotes

When: 6 p.m.

Where: Gila River Arena.

TV/radio: Fox Sports Arizona/KTAR-AM (620).

Coyotes update: The Coyotes traveled back to the Valley on Friday and did not practice. Defenseman Michael Stone, who left Thursday’s game with an upper-body injury, is day-to-day.

Avalanche update: After a five-day break in the schedule, the Avalanche returned to action Friday at home against the Jets. Before then, the team sat 3-2 with its most recent game a 5-2 loss to the Panthers last Saturday. This is Colorado's best start since it won six straight to open the 2013-14 campaign. In each of its wins, the Avalanche had scored at least four goals. Centers Matt Duchene and Joe Colborne had a team-high three goals. Duchene was also tied with defenseman Patrick Wiercioch and center Nathan MacKinnon for the team lead in points with five. Goalie Semyon Varlamov had started four of the team’s first five games, going 2-2 with a 3.25 goals-against average and .902 save percentage. Varlamov was expected to get the start against the Jets.