The Anaheim Ducks have signed center Ryan Strome to a five-year contract with a $5 million cap hit.

A former fifth overall pick (2011), Strome's career didn't start to pick up until the Rangers signed Artemi Panarin in 2019 and matched the two on the same line. Over an 82-game season, Strome was on pace for between 60-70 points over his last three seasons, mainly with Panarin on his wing. After being squeezed out of New York, Strome joins a rebuilding Anaheim team that also signed Frank Vatrano (another former Ranger) earlier in the day.

Fantasy Take: Vatrano Lands with the Ducks

The Ducks don't boast a Panarin-level scorer, although they have some up-and-comers in Trevor Zegras and Mason McTavish. Regardless of the prospects in the Anaheim system, Strome will most likely center one of the top two lines straight away. Strome can also play right wing, so he could potentially bump either Zegras (C) or Troy Terry (RW) from the top line, although Zegras could move to left wing if Dallas Eakins wants all three on the top line. McTavish can now be eased into the lineup, although the Strome signing could hurt his short-term value.

The Ducks were a bottom-third team in terms of offense in 2021-22, so acquiring one more forward with the cap space they have can't hurt anyone too much and could even help certain players. As well, no current Ducks forward averaged more than 18 minutes. Because the Ducks are such a young team, their lines should be considered in a state of flux anyway.  

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Players this helps, in order:

Adam Henrique

Frank Vatrano

Max Comtois

Jamie Drysdale

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Players this hurts, in order:

Strome

McTavish

Isac Lundestrom

Jakob Silfverberg

Panarin