Team Profile: Helsinki Jokerit

GM: Trevor Grimm (2nd GM in team’s history)

Coach: Barry Trotz

Last season: 9th overall

Ins and Outs

(Season 3 to Season 4)

Out: Kyle Clifford (trade), Gareth Roberts (trade)

In: Travis Zajac (trade) Sam Bennett (draft), Chad Johnson (draft), Brandon Montour (draft)

In Place

(Key players signed past Season 4)

Henrik Lundqvist, G; Jake Trouba, D; Paul Stastny, C; Jack Johnson, D; Brad Marchand, LW;

Three Questions

1. Can a great goalie and smothering defense win it all? When Trevor Grimm took over the franchise, he transformed it into a defense-first, hit-often team. Goals against decreased at the expense of offense and penalty minutes rose substantially. Henrik Lundqvist earned $6.87 million with his previous contract and Grimm was able to convince Finland’s favorite Swede to come back for at least three more years for $770,000 less per year.

2. How will Travis Zajac fit? Helsinki needed a second line center and some more offense. They traded two prototypical Jokerit players to get Zajac, who is definitely capable of playing second line minutes. He’s great on faceoffs and will help reduce the team’s PIM numbers, but whether he’ll add much offense remains to be seen. His all-time high in the league is 39 points with Frankfurt. Another option at Grimm’s disposal is money. Helsinki has cap space and there are a few excellent centers out there (Joe Pavelski, Joe Thornton, Henrik Sedin, Pavel Datsyuk and Derek Roy) who could add a healthy dose of offense. Pavelski and Datsyuk seem to have the requisite defense-first mentality that would fit with the rest of the Jokerit team. But even if they do sign an offensive wiz, the team doesn’t have many sharpshooters on the wing to team with him or even Zajac. Trotz will surely experiment by giving Dainius Zubrus and Eliezer Sherbatov second-line minutes at some point.

3. Can we see some ID? Wait, Nerius Alisauskas is only 20? It seems like he’s been in the league for along time. Did he start when he was 16? The guy plays a great game. He hits, blocks shots and can score goals. Now that Jacob Trouba (an astute third-round pick in the Season 2 draft) is on the blueline, that should free up some space for Alisauskas to do a little more damage offensively. He scored 9 goals last season but he’ll score more this year with the ability he has. Helsinki seems not only set but spectacular on defense for the next five years with these five, under-28 players: Alisauskas, Trouba, Jared Cowen, Daniel Fernholm and Jack Johnson. Because the third pairing may not get a lot of ice time, there has been speculation that Grimm might try to move one of the five.