GM: Troy Huzulak (fourth GM in team’s history)

Coach: Craig Berube

Last season: 5th overall

Ins and Outs (Season 3 to Season 4)

Out: Dion Phaneuf (trade), Joe Thornton (Free agency, Frankfurt), Dan Boyle (FA, Belfast), Ray Whitney (retired), Milan Hejduk (retired), Matt Gilroy, Joe Corvo, Alexandre Picard, Paul Gaustad, Torrey Mitchell

In: Mark Giordano (trade), Ryan Wilson, (trade), Nikita Zadorov (trade) Charlie Coyle (trade), Henrik Sedin (Free agent from Milan), Chris Campoli (FA, Oslo), Anton Babchuk (FA, Stockholm), Radko Gudas (draft), Kasperi Kapanen (draft)

In Place (Key players signed past Season 4)

Jonathan Quick, G; Mark Giordano, D; Dave Bolland, C; Dany Heatley, RW; Patrik Elias, LW

Three Questions

1. How much will Joe Thornton’s departure hurt? Make no mistake, this is a season of transition for the Munich franchise. After three seasons of placing 5th or better, there is a new boss (Troy Huzy), a new nickname and uniform, a new coach and a substantially different lineup. If you look at the top five teams each seasons, you will notice that Munich under coach Bob Hartley thrived due to its defense. They couldn’t match the offensive output of the other top teams and with Thornton opting for free agency this year, what offense they did have will dry up a lot. Thornton, Munich’s captain, was good for 60 assists per year. On top of that, veteran Ray Whitney, who scored 22 goals last season, retired.

2. How will step up? Huzy chose not to try to bring back the older players on the team. Joe Corvo, Milan Hejduk and Paul Gaustad went unsigned, and Dion Phaneuf was traded. The current roster is thinner than ever in Munich. In fact, the Dire Wolf are still one player short of the minimum number needed to play a game. First-line wings Patrik Elias and Dany Heatley were both able to score more than 30 goals  two seasons ago and just under 30 apiece last season with Thornton feeding them. This year, the pressure will be on Henrik Sedin to help them keep the goals coming.  David Bolland experienced a mysterious turnaround personally last season. After a year in Copenhagen and another in Moscow, he blossomed in Hartley’s system, basically doubling his statistical numbers.  This season, it looks like he will team with Josh Bailey on his left and perhaps Steve Downey on his right to make a feisty defensive line that can put the puck in fairly often.

3. Will their defense be as good as always? Jonathan Quick has been one of the league’s best goalies over the years and he is just getting into his prime at age 28. He will steal some wins for Munich to be sure. But the defense has a different look at the moment. Four of the six defensemen don’t have houses yet in Germany, with three coming by way of Huzy trades and another via the draft. The blueliners are all good two-way players and only draftee Radko Gudas is prone to taking undisciplined penalties. Mark Giordano is the leader of the group and he expects to see more ice time than he did the last two seasons in Copenhagen. He is also the best shooter from the point, so expect to see him on the top power play unit. The loss of  Phaneuf and Dan Boyle may hurt in leadership, experience and in the offensive aspect of the defense corps, but in terms of pure defensive play, they should be as good as they were last season. (Update: Anton Babchuk was signed Monday)

History

Season                 Place        PTS        PP %      PK %      SPG        SAPG     GPG     GAPG    PIM

Season 3              5          103          18.4       85.6       30.66    31.72    3.40     2.74              12.24

Season 2              4         104          21.4       82.9      29.95     30.85     3.22        2.63                11.82

Season 1              5         104         19.0        84.0        32.62     28.73    3.50        2.88               9.41

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Jonathan Quick, G, current age 28. Games played: 198; Save Pct 91.7

Season 2: Talgat Zhailauov, C, age 24. GP 63, Pts 60, +32

Season 3: Andrew Shaw, RW, age 22. GP 78, Pts 12, +12

Season 4: Radko Gudas, G, age 23

Trade History

Season 1 (picks without years listed are from initial draft)

Traded Round 8 pick (used to draft Tomas Fleischmann), Round 10 pick (James Wisniewski), and Round 16 pick (Nikita Nikitin) to Dublin for Round 9 pick (used to draft Joe Corvo), Round 11 pick (Milan Hejduk) Round 13 pick (Josh Bailey) and $10,000

Season 2

Traded Tomas Zaborsky and Brooks Laich to Copenhagen for Dany Heatley and David Bolland

Traded Anton Babchuk to Stockholm for Magnus Johansson

Season 4

Traded 2015 Round 3 pick (David Pastrnak) to Berlin for Ryan Wilson

Traded Dion Phaneuf to Copenhagen for Mark Giordano, Nikita Zadorov and Charlie Coyle