ANAHEIM, Calif. – A bittersweet moment it might have been for Ryan Strome to score Saturday night against the Anaheim Ducks, the team that sent him to the Calgary Flames at the trade deadline just as it was finally built into the playoff club general manager Pat Verbeek intends it to be for years.
It was sweet. The breakaway goal he scored in the second period made for his 500th career point and helped the Flames to a 5-3 victory, sending the Ducks to their fifth straight defeat that also kept them from regaining first place in the Pacific Division.
But there is no bitterness. Strome is playing hockey again with the Flames, and that wasn’t going to happen with the Ducks. It mitigates the disappointment and sadness that comes with no longer being aboard a team that grew through tough times and challenging seasons — the one he signed a free-agent deal with in the summer of 2022 when it was about to sink into the depths of a multi-year rebuild.
“I was really torn,” Strome said Saturday. “Like, the last thing I wanted to do was leave the Ducks. I put a lot into it. I cared a lot.”
The 32-year-old spent nearly four seasons in Anaheim. He had modest offensive numbers: three straight seasons of 41 points while creeping into the double digits in goals for each. He was a solid player at his best, a contributor on the ice. Nothing more. Fans inside Honda Center on Saturday respected those contributions with a nice ovation after a welcome back video was played, which drew out a wide smile from the forward.
The smile was a common image during Strome’s time with the Ducks. Relentlessly upbeat even in this season, the most difficult campaign of his NHL career. Unfailingly polite with the public and always enthusiastic when contributing to the organization’s community and charitable efforts. It was part of all he did off the ice, which should be remembered particularly if the Ducks ever fulfill their ambitions as an annual Stanley Cup contender.
Strome came to Anaheim on a five-year contract as one of Verbeek’s first signings along with Frank Vatrano. The Ducks were steering into a true rebuild and needed to entice veterans with the promise of quality ice time and a healthy payday. What they couldn’t promise was winning, and that didn’t make Anaheim a preferred destination. It wasn’t much of a stretch to think the Ducks appeared on many players’ no-trade lists.
Sure, a $25 million contract will ease any worry over leaving what was a contending New York Rangers club and heading across the country. But Strome embraced the opportunity and became a pitchman for the franchise. Part of the reason why Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba are with the Ducks now is how much their former Rangers teammate sold them on Orange County and, more importantly, Anaheim’s upward hockey path.
“He’s a bit of a salesman,” said Kreider, whom Verbeek acquired last June. “He definitely sold me on it. And I’m happy he did. He has a lot of positive impact anywhere he goes, whatever organization he plays with, whoever he plays for. He’s just that kind of guy.”
When Trouba was headed for a messy breakup with the Rangers as the 2024-25 offseason played out, he reached out to Strome. He saw the appeal of Anaheim enough to waive his no-trade clause, something he negotiated in his eight-year contract with New York and wasn’t going to toss aside for any club even if it became apparent the Rangers no longer wanted him.
“When my whole thing was going down in New York, he was the first person I called,” Trouba said. “I was like, ‘Hey, how’s Anaheim? How are the Ducks? Like, what’s it like?’ Obviously, he spoke highly of it. I think the time he was here, the energy and the enthusiasm — it wasn’t always the greatest times in years — but he’s always a guy that’s fun to be around. Smiles. Keeps energy high and loose. It can get hard in tough years, coming to the rink and going through that.
“He was great in New York. He was great on those teams winning. But I just think he is the guy who is always positive and has that kind of infectious energy about him that everyone kind of gravitates towards.”
When Strome signed with the Ducks, Verbeek was moving them into a new era. Shortly after taking over, he dealt one-time cornerstones and impending restricted free agents Hampus Lindholm, Rickard Rakell and Josh Manson. A teardown was underway. But Verbeek still needed players to ice a club that looked like it wasn’t purely designed to tank for the 2022-23 season.
In what proved to be the final year for lame-duck coach Dallas Eakins, the Ducks went 23-47-12 for an NHL-worst 58 points. What did come out of that dreadful season was the chance to draft Leo Carlsson as their future franchise center even though the Chicago Blackhawks won the draft lottery and selected Connor Bedard.
Now it’s players like Carlsson, forwards Cutter Gauthier and Beckett Sennecke, and lead defenseman Jackson LaCombe that will help attract players to Anaheim. But Strome was the first and eagerly talked up the Ducks at every chance, even when it was tough to do so.
“It was brutal,” Strome recalled of his first season. “We tried to play our butts off every night. We tried to make the crowds proud. All things considered, I think on the ice I was pretty proud of the way I played, considering it wasn’t very easy with the talent. When I left New York to come here, it was a lot different. But I left it all out here.
“Couldn’t be more proud. Really rooting for these guys. Happy the way the young guys have gone from here to here (motioning upward with his hands). To think I have maybe the little small part of it makes me happy.”
The Ducks got off to a roaring start under first-year coach Joel Quenneville. Their young forwards were thriving. Kreider was reinvigorated. Other newcomers like Mikael Granlund and Ryan Poehling were making a positive impact. It was the kind of club Strome hoped they would evolve into.
Except an upper-body injury sidelined Strome for the first month and he came back to a deeper forward group that was squeezing him out. Sennecke grabbed a spot and never let it go. The center position had essentially been filled. Once Jeffrey Viel and Jansen Harkins were preferred options for Quenneville because of their pace and ruggedness, the writing was on the wall for Strome as he became a regular healthy scratch for the first time in his 13-year career.
At midseason, Strome had a talk with Verbeek about where his future with the Ducks lay.
“I have a lot of pride, and it was really, really tough to swallow it and sit out and just kind of watch what was happening,” he said. “I didn’t really necessarily agree with it, but I tried to handle it professionally as I could, and I think at the end of the day the reputation of the way I handled things and the way everything went about is the reason why I was able to find a new landing spot quickly. Because I think your reputation is very important in this league. It’s a small world, and I’m glad with the way it worked out.”
The Ducks essentially did Strome a favor with the trade to Calgary for a 2027 seventh-round pick, a pittance where the best value was freeing up $5 million of cap space for next season. And he is back to playing regularly as the Flames’ third-line center. Strome is producing with consistent ice time again, as the goal Saturday gave him five and 11 points in 15 games — two more points than he had in 33 contests before the trade.
As far as the way things ended with Anaheim, Strome has no ill will.
“Pat was amazing and (so was) everyone here,” he said. “It was time for me to go play, and as a hockey player, I don’t have forever left. I want to play. I want to play 1,000 games. I want to continue to push myself and see how long I can play. This was the best thing for me.
“It was a tough decision. It really ate at me. I was a guy that I really cared in (Anaheim). I really wanted to make it a better place, and at the end of the day I think I did that and that’s all I can do.”
Ryan Strome played 276 games with Anaheim, his longest stint with any team over his career. (Isaiah J. Downing / Imagn Images)
Even in this latest chapter, Strome is willing to sell the Ducks in a positive light. That will be his greatest contribution to the franchise. There was a time when the franchise didn’t have a lot of hope to offer, but once he arrived, Strome kept stepping up to that plate.
Trouba said he was “a driving force” in helping the Ducks turn the page from a rebuilding club to a competitive one that’s on the verge of snapping a seven-year playoff drought. The defenseman said Strome affected a lot of their young players, and it will be felt as they mature into leaders.
“When he went through this year and how he handled that,” Trouba said, “it’s a testament to the guy and the character he has.”
For now, Newport Beach will remain home for the Strome clan. He joked about dropping off dirty laundry after having his family up in Calgary last week. “They were kind of confused,” he said. “One asked me if I got traded again. I don’t think she knew what was really going on. It’s nice to be home.”
The Strome house became a popular one for teammates and their families to hang out at. That won’t be forgotten. Nor should anyone forget what he did for the franchise the next time the Ducks sign an impact free agent or learn a player will waive his no-trade clause to join them.
“He’s just a good teammate,” Kreider said. “Treats everyone well. Gets everyone involved. A facilitator on the ice and off the ice. I’ve played with them in two different places now. I call him a very close friend. He definitely makes people around him better and brings out the best in them on the ice. And I think the same can be said for off the ice and the relationships he has.
“He’s one of hockey’s great people, and I feel really lucky that I got to play with him two different occasions.”