Season 5 profile: Bern Bears

GM: Randy Rock (5th GM in team’s history)

Coach: Mike Babcock

Last season: 10th overall

Ins and Outs (Season 4 to Season 5)

Out: Jason Spezza (free agent), Cam Talbot (trade), Shane Doan (retired), Joel Ward (retired), Kimmo Timonen, (retired), Sami Paulson (retired), Martin Havlat (free agent), Steve Bernier (free agent)

In: Andrei Kostitsyn (free agent), Anton Babchuk (free agent), Johnny Boychuk (free agent), Matt Hunwick (free agent), Marcel Goc (free agent), Kjetil Martinsen (draft), John Quenneville (draft), Mats Rosseli-Olsen (draft)

In Place (Key players signed past Season 5)

Mika Zibanejad, C; Mike Smith, G; Tobias Enstrom, D; Radim Vrbata, RW; Andrei Kostitsyn, LW

Three Questions

1. Is Bern’s goaltending an issue? It definitely is not. You have to be pretty satisfied with a goalie who has put in this kind of work for you over four seasons: 2.50 goals against average and 91.2 save percentage in Season 1; 2.78 GAA and 90.7 save pct. in Season 2; 3.06 GAA and 90.1 save pct. in Season 3; and 2.77 GAA and 90.6 save pct. in Season 4. Mike Smith, 33, has the fifth-best all-time save percentage among active goalies and he seems to have a firm grasp on the starting job this year. He will also have the choice of staying with Bern next season for another $4 million year. He has been a good guy to build a team around.

2. Seabrook, Enstrom, Seidenberg and who on defense? In front of Smith is a defense corps led by the best Bear of all, Brent Seabrook. The 30-year-old defensemen on the final year of a $5.8 million contract has only missed 2 games in his four years with Bern. The last two seasons were his best, as he scored at least 50 points and was credited with more than 300 hits both seasons. On the all-time hits list, Seabrook ranks 2nd behind only Shea Weber. On the all-time shots blocked list, he is fourth. Joining him back on the blueline for the fifth straight season are Tobias Enstrom and Dennis Seidenberg. Those three have done great work for Bern over the years. The other three starters are newcomers to the team, all free agents who were signed to improve the Bears’ play in their own zone. Johnny Boychuk, Anton Babchuk and Matt Hunwick won’t do much scoring; they’ll concentrate on defense instead, and that’s just fine with Coach Mike Babcock, General Manager Randy Rock and especially goalie Mike Smith.

3. How much importance does Bern place on experience? Randy Rock is not a big believer in teen-agers. The goalies and defensemen are all over 30 years old. Five of the top six forwards are at least 30. In the dressing room, the MP3 player is a turntable. Experience matters to Rock. The lone exception is Mika Zibanejad, a 22-year-old leg-churning machine who will get to take departed Jason Spezza’s at center on the first line. His linemates will be free agent pickup Andrei Kostitsyn and Radim Vrbata, who was second on the team to Spezza last year in both goals (36) and points (86). If Zibanejad doesn’t fit it right away, expect veteran Henrik Zetterberg to take his place. The older Z still has major league wheels and he’s actually faster than the younger Z. Zetterberg is currently penciled in on the second line with Pascal Dupuis and “The Mule,” Johan Franzen. Bern’s third line will get overlooked by most opposing coaches until it’s the third period and they see those pests coming over the boards yet again. Leo Komarov, Drew Miller and Derek Dorsett should make an interesting line that will forecheck well and frustrate opponents.

History

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

Season 4 10 94 17.6 82.1 30.71 30.34 3.24 3.12 11.48

Season 3 14 86 18.0 82.6 29.88 30.78 3.2 3.37 11.43

Season 2 11 93 17.9 83.3 30.96 29.66 3.32 3.04 10.09

Season 1 2 119 25.2 83.1 31.87 28.82 3.88 2.73 7.52

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Claude Giroux, RW, currently age 27. GP 322, Pts 392, -24

Season 2: Scott Glennie, C, age 24. GP 0

Season 3: Dalton Prout, D, age 24. GP 83, Pts 18, -6

Season 4: Cam Talbot, G, age 27. GP 30, Save pct. 89.0

Season 5: Kjetil Martinsen, RW, age 21

Trade History

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

Traded Round 8 pick (used to draft Martin Erat) 2013 Round 1 (Weiyang Zhang) and 2013 Round 2 pick (Leonardo Genoni) to Bratislava for Round 5 pick (used to draft Kimo Timonen)

Traded Claude Giroux to Frankfurt for Rd 3 pick (Brent Seabrook) and Rd 4 pick (Jason Spezza)

Traded Rd 2 pick (Derek Stepan) to Edinburgh for Rd 3 pick (Daniel Sedin) and Rd 5 pick (Ray Whitney)

Traded Daniel Sedin and Rd 12 pick (Max Talbot) to Oslo for Rd 4 pick (Radim Vrbata) and Rd 6 pick (Johan Franzen)

Traded Rd 10 pick (Devan Dubnyk) to Belfast for Rd 12 pick (Sami Salo)and Rd 24 pick (Douglas Murray)

Traded Rd 14 pick (Matt Cullen), Rd 25 pick (Daniel Paille) and 2013 Rd 3 pick (Nathan Beaulieu) to Minsk for Rd 12 pick (Dan Winnick)

Traded Rd 13 pick (Dmitri Orlov), Rd 19 pick (Carlo Colaiacovo) and 2014 Rd 1 pick (Jake Muzzin) to Paris for Adrian Aucoin

Traded Dan Winnick to Edinburgh for Rd 15 pick (Evgeny Kuznetsov)

Traded Rd 20 pick (Brandon Prust) and Rd 22 pick (Mark Visentin) to Madrid for Sammi Pahlsson

Traded Nicklas Backstrom (goalie) to Geneva for 2013 Rd 3 pick (Scott Glennie), 2014 Rd 3 pick (Tommy Wingels) and $1.5 million

Season 2 – None

Season 3 – None

Traded 2017 Round ? pick to Minsk for Jon Merrill