Anaheim Traded Strome To Calgary

Photo: AP

By Michael Walters

As the time winded down on the trade deadline, it seemed Anaheim was done having made the late night acquisition of John Carlson yesterday. Instead, Anaheim had one more move which sent Ryan Strome to the Calgary Flames for a 2027 7th round draft pick.

Strome had a difficult start to the 2025-26 NHL season. He missed the first 16 games of the season due to an oblique injury and then could never find his way back to being a regular in the lineup. He ended up only playing 33 of the 61 games so far this season. He had just 9 total points (3 G + 6 A) in those appearances.

With Cutter Gauthier breaking out scoring 30+ goals and Beckett Sennecke putting up 20 goals himself, Strome became expendable in Anaheim. Also the emergence of Ryan Poehling made it difficult for Strome to get back into the lineup night in and night out. Peohling has put up 24 total points (7 G + 17 A) in 54 games this season. General Manager Pat Verbeek likes what he sees in Poehling and just signed him to a 4-year extension that carries a $3.75 million AAV. Anaheim has depth at center with Leo Carlsson, Mason McTavish, Jansen Harkins, and Tim Washe so they could afford to move Strome.

The other part of this equation is the financial aspect. Strome’s contract carried a $5 million cap hit for the rest of this season and the 2026-27 season and the Ducks did not retain any of his contract. Verbeek brought in Carlson which his contract has a $8 million cap hit this season. He hopes to bring him back next season, “It’s worth it to give this group experience, give them a chance to make the playoffs and to do well in the playoffs. That’s kind of how I looked at it and with the hope that we’ll be able to re-sign him when the season’s over.” Trading Strome gives Verbeek some more felixabilty in the offseason. He still has other the Carlsson and Gauthier to sign in the summer plus some other RFAs (Pavel Mintyukov, Ian Moore, Olen Zellweger).

Verbeek had mentioned this before earlier in the season, but again he isn’t going to worry about signing any more contracts until summer. He reiterated today, “I don’t want any distractions for this group. I think this stuff will work itself out in due time.”

On a personal note, I am bummed to see Strome go. During the final home game last season I was lucky to be one of the jersey off the back winners and received his jersey. He was apologetic about the Ducks not making the playoffs last season and said how the team’s goal was to get to the postseason this year. Unfortunately, he won’t get that opportunity with Anaheim this season. I wish him the best of luck in Calgary.

Related Article:

Ducks Acquire John Carlson

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March 6th, 2026