On this day in 2018, the Edmonton Oilers traded forward Ryan Strome to the New York Rangers, acquiring forward Ryan Spooner in return.
When Strome came to Edmonton in a swap with the New York Islanders, a lot was riding on the 24-year-old regarding his offensive production. There was promise in his first campaign with the Oilers as he scored 13 goals and 33 points, but the following season didn’t show the same indications. In 18 games, Strome scored only one goal and three points, which prompted the trade for Spooner from the Rangers.
The market assumed with potent playmakers like Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, Spooner would fit as a complement on the bottom half of the lineup. Oilers general manager Peter Chiarelli was also keen on Spooner due to the history between the pair with the Boston Bruins.
“We drafted Spooner in Boston and developed him, and I know him as a person,” Chiarelli told the Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson.
“That helps when there are two players under-performing, but the big thing was we want to change the chemistry here. We’re looking at the secondary, bottom-half of the lineup, and what Spooner has is speed and skill.”
Chiarelli wanted to shake things up in the lineup and hopefully improve the Oilers’ struggling results. Yet, it didn’t pan out the way the organization hoped.
Spooner started his time with the club slotting next to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins but went minus-four in his first two games and never quite recovered. The club kept him around for 25 games, but his production never reached the potential they thought the forward embodied. He scored only two goals and three points for the Oilers. By the following February, the organization was turning back to a player from the Vancouver Canucks that the Oilers knew all too well in Sam Ganger, sending Spooner to Canada’s west coast as a result.
After 11 games with the Canucks through the end of the season, Spooner opted to step away from the NHL and signed in July 2019 with HC Lugano of the National League in Switzerland.
As for Strome, the Rangers seemed to reap more benefits from the deal. Strome played in New York for four years, scoring 71 goals and 195 points across 263 games. For 2022-23, he signed as a free agent with the Anaheim Ducks, scoring 15 goals and 41 points. So far this season, Strome had two goals and 14 points throughout the Ducks’ first 15 games of the year.
More must-reads: