GM: Trevor Grimm (2nd GM in team’s history)
Coach: Barry Trotz
Last season: 13th overall
Ins and Outs
(Season 4 to Season 5)
Out: Travis Zajac (waivers), David Booth (waivers), Ryan Smyth (retired)
In: Thomas Vanek (free agent), Ville Peltonen (free agent), Antoine Vermette (free agent), Derek Roy, (free agent), Steve Downey (free agent), Adrian Kempe (draft), Rhett Rakhshani (free agent)
In Place
(Key players signed past Season 4)
Henrik Lundqvist, G; Alexander Radulov, RW; Paul Stastny, C; Brad Marchand, LW; Boone Jenner, LW
Three Questions
1. Are we seeing a new type of Jokerit? Only General Manager Trevor Grimm knows for sure, but the signings of free agents Thomas Vanek, Antoine Vermette and Derek Roy hinted that the team might be reworking its culture and image. Then Grimm went and claimed animalistic Steve Downey off waivers to dispel that crazy notion. Anyway, Vanek doesn’t play stifling defense, Vermette isn’t a bruiser and Roy is even less so, so they don’t seem very … Jokeritish. The team was the sixth-lowest scoring team in the league last season and the league leader in penalty minutes two years in a row. The new guys should help in both areas, but not in goals against, unfortunately. Speaking of defense, Helsinki has a good mix of youth and experience on defense, a corps led by 28-year-old Jack Johnson. The makeup of that group hasn’t changed; they will still bang bodies with the best of them. By now, EURO forwards know the routine: Cross the Helsinki blue line, get hit.
2. Is Iggy worth keeping another year? Jarome Iginla is 38 years old and he scored 56 points last season for Helsinki. That was good enough for third-best on the team. What’s more, he and Henrik Lundqvist are the leaders of the team as captain and assistant captain. The free agent acquisitions – Vanek, Roy, Vermette and Finn Ville Peltonen, who plays against his former team Tuesday – all have good leadership qualities themselves. It would be great for the team if the aforementioned could form a 6-man leadership bloc. But it’s Iggy’s team and he proved last year he still has gas in his tank.
3. Can Radulov carry the offense? The Jokerit gave up defenseman Jacob Trouba to get Alexander Radulov from Zurich and the 23-year-old Russian has the tools to make Grimm and coach Barry Trotz look really smart. He skates hard, has puck skills, a good shot and can play a good, solid all-around game. Some teams wouldn’t like the number of penalties he takes, but in Helsinki, no one seems to notice. Expect Radulov to be the best Jokerit forward in a couple of years. It is hoped that he and linemate Paul Stastny will see a boost in production numbers with Thomas Vanek on their left wing instead of Brad Marchand. The superpest Marchand will probably get second-line minutes in a role he might be better suited for. In Game 1, he played with Derek Roy and Brayden Schenn.
History
Season Place PTS PP % PK % SPG SAPG GPG GAPG PIM
Season 4 13 83 18.8 83.3 29.43 32.65 2.96 3.13 13.60
Season 3 9 91 17.9 87.3 29.17 32.76 2.90 2.91 15.88
Season 2 14 89 17.5 82.9 30.43 31.93 3.01 2.99 14.48
Season 1 17 84 21.7 80.8 30.01 33.09 3.15 3.49 9.63
Top Draft picks
Season 1: John Tavares, C, current age 25. Games played: 325; points: 367; -64
Season 2: Nerius Alisauskas, D, age 21. GP 228, Pts 82, +6
Season 3: Cody Eakin, C, age 23. GP 155, Pts 76, -12
Season 4: Sam Bennett, C, age 19
Season 5: Adrian Kempe, age 18, LW
Trade History
Season 1 (picks without years listed are from initial draft)
Traded Round 4 pick (used to draft Stephen Weiss) to Copenhagen for Round 5 pick (used to draft Paul Stastny) and Round 12 pick (Marc Staal)
Traded John Tavares, Ilya Bryzgalov, 2013 Round 2 pick (Jakub Kovar) and $5 million to Edinburgh for Henrik Lundqvist
Traded Jamie McGinn to Milan for Nik Antropov, 2013 Round 2 pick (traded later) (Olexander Podbyedonostsev) and 2013 Round 3 pick (Matthew Dumba)
Traded Jakub Silfverberg and 2013 Round 2 pick (Olexander Podbyedonostsev) to Dublin for Boone Jenner
Season 2
Traded Alexander Burmistrov to Minsk for Brayden Scheen and Kyle Clifford
Traded Martin St. Louis and 2015 Round 3 (Jakub Vrana) to St. Petersburg for Jarome Iginla
*Colton Gillies was once Helsinki property but is with Paris now. Not sure if trade was involved.
Sorry Trevor, I seem to be missing some trades from this period.
Season 3
Traded Nick Spaling to Minsk for 2015 Round 3 pick (Brandon Montour)
Traded Sven Baertschi to Minsk for 2014 Rd 2 pick (Hunter Shinkaruk)
Season 4
Traded Kyle Clifford and Gareth Roberts to Frankfurt for Travis Zajac
Season 5
Traded Jacob Trouba to Zurich for Alexander Radulov
Traded Wojtek Wolski to Oslo for 2016 Round 3 pick (later tried to Stockholm-Ryan Gunderson)
Traded 2016 Round 1 (Later traded to Gothenburg – Olli Palola) pick to Moscow for Nicolas Ehlers
Traded 2016 Round 2 pick (Connor Bleackley) and 2016 Round 3 pick (Ryan Gunderson) to Stockholm for Nikita Scherbak
After the start of Season 5
Signed Stanislav Galimov (free agent)
Signed Peter Budaj (free agent)
Signed Patryk Wajda (free agent)
Signed Marc-Andre Bergeron (free agent)
