Team Profile: Minsk Hussars

GM: Igor Kirunov (only GM in team’s history)

Coach: Lindy Ruff (formerly Claude Julien)

Last season: 18th overall

Ins and Outs

(Season 3 to Season 4)

Out: Sergei Kostitsyn (trade), Ilya Nikulin (trade), Valeri Nichushkin (trade), Magnus Paajarvi (trade), Nick Bjugstad (trade)

In: Michael Del Zotto (trade), Aaron Ekblad (draft), Gustav Nyquist (draft), Ivan Barbashev (draft)

In Place (Key players signed past Season 4)

Nicklas Backstrom, C; Carey Price, G; Max Chudinov, D; Jakub Voracek, RW; Milan Lucic, LW

Three Questions

1. How young can you go? Minsk ended Season 1 in last place, but has slowly but surely moving in the right direction since. Their power play units are better than they’ve ever been, their shots per game average has gone up each year and their shots against average has gone down, as have their goals for and goals against averages. And GM Igor Kirunov has been accumulating more young assets all the while. The Hussars currently have 8 prospects and 4 extra draft picks in the bank. And in their entire team, they have just one Type 3 contract (Marty Biron, age 37). Look at their Contract Analysis page and you will see just one red rectangle. Of their players currently under contract, the oldest are four 27-year-olds including Nicklas Backstrom, who has scored more points in a Hussar sweater than anyone.

2. Is Lucic the future leader? Milan Lucic was acquired – along with two first-round draft picks – in the Zach Parise trade with Gothenburg and the former Boston Bruin seems to have fit in beautifully in Belarus. He has more career points than anyone on the roster including Backstrom and he tied for the team lead in points during the Hussars’ first-ever appearance in the playoffs this past season. In Season 2, he was a goal away from the 30-goal mark for Gothenburg, and after the trade in Season 3, Lucic seemed to improve his defensive game as well as his puck possession numbers. Backstrom and goalie Carey Price are the undisputed dressing room leaders of the club, but Lucic could be their most important player.

3. How does a losing team have so many plus players? If you look at the stats from last season, you’ll see the top line was usually outmatched by their opponents’ top lines. Backstrom, Lucic and Jakub Voracek took a beating in the plus/minus category, but they will improve with age. Of the other 20 players, 14 had plus ratings. That indicates balance and depth. And while only two players scored more than 20 goals (Backstrom 28 and Voracek 25), 10 other skaters scored at least 10 and two defensemen had 9.

History

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

Season 3 18 77 17.3 78.6 29.57 30.85 3.15 3.40 12.91

Season 2 19 74 15.1 81.9 26.40 31.21 2.71 3.41 10.29

Season 1 24 54 13.3 79.8 25.59 32.46 2.12 3.50 9.82

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Carey Price, G, current age 27. Games played: 207; Save Pct. 89.7

Season 2: Maxim Chudinov, D, age 20. GP 138, Pts 55, -29

Season 3: Valeri Nichushkin, RW, age 19. GP 15, Pts 6, +3

Season 4: Aaron Ekblad, D, age 18

Trade History

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

Traded Round 4 pick (used to draft Brent Burns) to St. Petersburg for Round 6 pick (used to draft Patrik Berglund) and 2013 Round 1 pick (Thomas Powell)

Traded Round 8 pick (traded later) (Andrej Meszaros) to Oslo for Round 17 pick (Zac Rinaldo) and 2013 Round 1 (Alex Galchenyuk)

Traded Round 12 pick (Dan Winnick) to Bern for Round 14 pick (Matt Cllen), Round 25 pick (later traded) (Dan Paille) and 2013 Round 3 pick (Nathan Beaulieu)

Traded Matt Cullen to Athens for Round 15 pick (Stefan Elliott)

Traded Matt Hunwick Round 25 pick (Dan Paille) and Round 25 pick (Alexei Emelin) to Edinburgh for Nick Bjugstad

Traded Vernon Fiddler and $1 million to Geneva for Alex Chiasson

Traded Round 21 pick (Raffi Torres) to Geneva for Brian Dumoulin

Traded Round 10 pick (Mikael Granlund) to Belfast for Round 11 pick (Romas Josi) and Round 15 pick (Andrej Sekera)

Season 2

Traded Andrej Sekera to Prague for Nicklas Grossman and 2015 Round 3 pick (Jon Merrill)

Traded Brayden Schenn and Kyle Clifford to Helsinki for Alexander Burmistrov

Traded Tobias Stephan to London for 2016 Round 3 pick

Traded 2016 Round 3 pick (from London) to London for Tobias Stephan

Traded Jonas Holos to Frankfurt for 2014 Round 2 pick (later traded) (Viktor Fasth)

Traded Patric Hornqvist and Mathis Olimb to Berlin for 2015 Round 1 that was later traded in Aaron Ekblad deal.