Article: Charlie Stramel May Hit the Apex Of His Long Development Journey This Season

[Luke Sims]

View full article

[Pewterschmidt]

We need you to arrive and play the bottom six Anton Lindell role in this lineup.  Make it happen young buck

[MNCountryLife]

Sure would be nice to see a kid of his size up his game and add another Ek type player to our roster.  Those type of players can take over games for you.  Keep our fingers crossed that he continues to progress.

[Citizen Strife]

The team needs more players like this.  Size baked in from the get go, plus a smart defensive game.  Ek is invaluable, and getting a second version of that would be insane.  The team desperately needs offense, but there are plenty of other reasons why the team doesn't succeed.  Angry Koivu or Ek now would be the dream, but early GREEF era Ek isn't a bad deal either.

Edited 11 hours ago by Citizen Strife

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Stamel is a line 4 player until proven otherwise. Jordan Greenway was more productive as a sophomore than Stramel was as a junior, and Greenway didn't exactly have an offensive explosion in the NHL.

Any comparisons to Eriksson Ek are unfair to both JEE and Stramel. Stamel would need to score at least 1 point per game in the upcoming season to suggest he could be useful above the 4th line in the near future.

A little thicker Nico Sturm seems like a more reasonable comp than JEE.

Edited 10 hours ago by Imyourhuckleberry

[mnfaninnc]

I think Stramel can peak at a 3rd line C. When watching him in his lone NCAA game this past season, he got plenty of icetime and had a great reach. He positioned himself nicely in front of the net.

But, what I didn't see was that hunger to blow someone up, nor the explosiveness in his game. Lumbering would be the word I'd use. So, this offseason, on Stramel's to do list, I would definitely put acceleration at the top of the list. He's a hometown kid, surely he had some Andy Ness time on his hands?

If the comparison is Ek, let's remember how long it took Ek to get to where he is. Stramel may be a Senior, but he's really just a Jr. in age. Those 1st 5 steps are really important. Get those shored up and we've got something!

[mnfaninnc]

Is Stramel eligible to play in the kids' showcase?

[0 Stanley Cups]

46 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Jordan Greenway was more productive as a sophomore than Stramel was as a junior, and Greenway didn't exactly have an offensive explosion in the NHL.

Unfortunately, Greenway was rushed to the NHL too soon, probably due to his size and the Wild's lack of offense.  He only played a handful of games in Iowa, when he should've spent at least 1-2 seasons. 

Our prospect depth is in much better shape to allow Stramel to develop in Iowa for 1-2 seasons after college.  Both Foligno and Trenin's contracts will have expired by 2028-29 and hopefully Stramel can fill that void when he's ~24 years old.

[Patrick]

1 hour ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

Any comparisons to Eriksson Ek are unfair to both JEE and Stramel. Stamel would need to score at least 1 point per game in the upcoming season to suggest he could be useful above the 4th line in the near future.

I'm guessing you would have called Faber a bust based on his college production.  

His role in their system may not translate to a lot of scoring.  College production (or lack there of) isn't always the best indicator. 

He still has an uphill climb but 3rd and 4th line roles look reachable at this point and there may still be some upside left.  

Good for him to transfer and rebuild his reputation. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

2 minutes ago, Patrick said:

I'm guessing you would have called Faber a bust based on his college production.  

No, I would not consider a shut down defender who was the defensive player of the year for the entire conference to seem like a bust coming out of college.  That seems insane, particularly when he led the defensemen on his team in +/- by a significant amount.

Faber wasn't even playing PP, just dominating even strength play and penalty kill, and he still reached the 27 points that were just highlighted for Stramel this season.  Stramel's teammate, who left, drove the scoring for MICH ST.

I also didn't call Greenway a bust, just a disappointing outcome for a 1st round selection. And I hope that Stramel will be able to help the PK, which is why I mentioned Nico Sturm.  Nico Sturm is a useful NHL player.  It would be up to others to evaluate if that outcome is a bust.

Some 1st round players never play in the NHL, and Stramel was a late round 1st, so opinions of bust could vary substantially even if he has a Nico Sturm type of career.

By the way, Nico Sturm had 37 points(14 goals) in 40 games(not far from a point per game) in his 2nd to last college season(and was 1st in +/- among forwards on his team that year), then jumped to 45 points in 39 games in his final college season, so Stramel has quite a bit of development yet to go to simply reach the levels that Sturm was at prior to moving to the AHL.

[0 Stanley Cups]

5 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

I also didn't call Greenway a bust, just a disappointing outcome for a 1st round selection.

2015: Eriksson Ek 1st round, Greenway 2nd round...Kaprizov 5th round, Chuck Fletcher's best draft.  Greenway has had a pretty decent career for a second rounder.  Stramel was a bit of a reach for the first round in 2023, I believe he was projected to go mid-second round.

[Imyourhuckleberry]

12 minutes ago, 0 Stanley Cups said:

2015: Eriksson Ek 1st round, Greenway 2nd round...Kaprizov 5th round, Chuck Fletcher's best draft.  Greenway has had a pretty decent career for a second rounder.  Stramel was a bit of a reach for the first round in 2023, I believe he was projected to go mid-second round.

Good call on that mistake by me regarding the 1st round.  Yes, Greenway was the 50th pick, which is around where Stramel was being projected by draft time. I'm not trying to bash Stramel, I just don't think it's fair for people to place his name with Eriksson Ek when discussing his future.

We don't have comparable hockey develop league time at this point for Eriksson Ek given that he was playing in a top 3 professional league rather than the NCAA.

We know it took Eriksson Ek a while to develop into the great 2-way NHL player he eventually became, but he was a point per game AHL player as soon as he came over from Sweden.

Eriksson Ek was simply a much better prospect than Stramel, so I really think it does Stramel a disservice to mention them together and have people disappointed in what Stramel is likely to become in the NHL.

Edited 8 hours ago by Imyourhuckleberry
Also, thanks for that correction on Greenway.

[Dango]

Ive got Stramel filling my Tim Kerr spot and ive got Rossi setting in to my Mark Pavelich role  and ive got Mojo taking over for Tommy Bartlett at the Dells 

[TCMooch]

Stramels ceiling is a journeyman 4th liner but is more likely going to be an AHL lifer and retire early

Edited 6 hours ago by TCMooch

[1Brotherbill]

I remember his freshman year at Wisconsin against the Gophers, who were stacked that year, Stramel was the bright spot on the Badgers.  He was basically untouchable.  Then Hastings showed up and brought half of the Mankato State team with him.  That pushed Stramel down the depth chart and his development lacked along with his confidence.  The move to Michigan State allowed him to get back on track for his development.  

He doesn't need to be an elite game changing center for the Wild.  He just needs to be a solid Center and I think he could be that with ease.  A 15 to 20 minute a game guy would be perfectly fine.  EK, Stramel, Yurov and Rossi would be solid down the middle for the next few year.  If Hiedt turns out to be good the Wild could go from terrible at Center to very strong at Center in a few years.