GM: Austin Dwyer  (3rd GM in team’s history)

Coach: Randy Carlyle (replaced Guy Boucher before Season 6)

Last season: 17th overall, out of the playoffs

Ins and Outs  (Season 5 to Season 6)

Out: Eric Staal (trade), Patrick Marleau (trade), John Moore (waivers), Ryan Jones, (free agent), Frazer McLaren (free agent), Braydon Coburn (obtained rights in off-season trade but would not sign, lost as free agent)

In:  Mikko Koivu (trade), Oliver Kylington (draft), Benn Ferriero (free agent), Matt Calvert (free agent), Mikhail Pashnin (free agent), Petr Zamorsky (free agent), Alejandro Hernandez (free agent)

In Place (Key players signed past Season 6)

Pekka Rinne, G; Jordan Eberle, RW; Adam Henrique, C; Dan Girardi, D, John Carlson, D; Petr Vrana, LW

Three Questions

1. Season 5 was the team’s worst yet. Where will the new GM go from here? New General Manager Austin Dwyer inherited a team of mainly youngsters in more of a rebuilding stage with no prospects or first round picks for the next two seasons.  In fact, when Dwyer did get to make his first draft selection in the EURO League last month, he had to wait until the third-last pick of the third round. Then, it got worse. He engineered a trade with Munich that sent Patrick Marleau to Bavaria in exchange for that third-last pick and the signing rights to defenseman Braydon Coburn. Obviously, the big defenseman is what Dwyer wanted most in the deal. But when Dwyer met with Coburn and his agent Daniel Plante to talk about life in western Sweden, Coburn said, “No, I don’t think so. I’m going to Zurich and there’s nothing you can do about,” or something to that effect. Undeterred, the new GM has made some big changes to team leadership and culture. He changed the team’s nickname, logo and uniforms; brought in his own coach, Randy Carlyle, to replace Guy Boucher; traded veteran leader Eric Staal to Paris for a Finn, Mikko Koivu; and – for no apparent reason – ordered the concession stands to remove the chilled bearnaise sauce (a condiment popular in Sweden) and replace it with ketchup.

2. Where do they need to improve most? It’s kind of a mystery as to why Gothenburg failed to make the playoffs last season. They were in the middle of the pack in all statistical categories and had just come off a promising season in which they placed 8th overall. For whatever reason, Coach Boucher couldn’t get the gearshift into the right gear slots at the right times. Dwyer hopes Carlyle will do a better job of driving. The coach would do well to tell his charges to be a little more careful when the refs are watching. The team’s penalty minutes were a little high last year and the penalty killing wasn’t great. That had to hurt them a bit. And the top line has to stay healthy all season if Gburg is going to do well. Koivu is a great addition to the second line and powerplay, but fans are expecting a lot from the top line of Adam Henrique centering Jordan Eberle and speedster Petr Vrana. Carlyle raised a few Swedish eyebrows when he demoted Swede Carl Hagelin and gave the top left wing slot to Vrana, a 25-year-old Czech. Both Hagelin and  Vrana can fly, but the Czech really has elite speed and opposing defensemen will often abandon their posts earlier and start skating backwards sooner just out of the fear that Vrana’s blazing speed will burn them. Eberle is just 26 but he has already posted five seasons of between 28 and 33 goals in the EURO League. And Henrique is simply awesome all the way around. To be honest, the remainder of Fronlunda’s forward lines aren’t threatening, although Koivu and Hagelin could make beautiful music together if they can put aside the Swedish-Finnish rivalry thing. If one thing epitomizes Gothenburg’s forwards, it’s speed. They have lots of skating speed throughout the lines. They have scored 18 goals through the first four games of Season 6.

3. Where are their chief strengths? “Chief strengths.” Get it? It’s a Gothenburg logo reference. Anyhoo … Frolunda looks exceptionally good in the back, with Pekka Rinne in goal and four excellent defensemen in front of him. Coburn would have really helped the team, but as it is, the first pair consists of John Carlson and Dan Girardi. The two have been prominent members of the Gothenburg lineup for five-plus seasons now, most of that time as a pair. Experts agree that they should be a very successful pair in this league, but their statistics so far haven’t been top caliber. Carlson has topped 40 points three times in his career, but he has yet to have more takeaways than giveaways in a season and his plus/minus last season was minus 17. Girardi’s stats are better. He always blocks a ton of shots, hits a ton of people and he has also topped the 40-point mark three times. Last season, he was plus 1. On the second pairing, offense-minded Kevin Dallman, 29, didn’t seem to settle in during his first year with the team last year, but he can be a key contributor, especially on the powerplay. His partner, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, is also quite capable but he too hasn’t wowed anyone with his stats in recent years. Still, Frolunda has a solid top four on defense and with Rinne, a former winner of the Top Goalie Award whose save percentage has always been above 90 percent and whose goals against average has always been south of 3 per game, Gothenburg fans should have some good nights in store for them this season … even without the bearnaise sauce.

History

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

Season 5              17            80            16.50    82.20    28.93      31.80      2.84     3.16      10.73

Season 4                8            104          18.6      79.4       29.73     29.84      3.56     2.87       8.06

Season 3              11             91            18.9      83.4       28.96     30.91     3.41      3.46     10.98

Season 2              15            86            17.4      84.6      30.12     30.93     3.44      3.50     11.02

Season 1              14             88           17.4       86.6      30.74     28.65     3.26     3.13      7.95

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Adam Henrique, C, current age 26. Games played: 397; points: 379; -34

Season 2: Petr Vrana, LW, age 25. GP 300, Pts 125; +32

Season 3: Beau Bennett, RW, age 24.  GP 197, Pts 44; +2

Season 4: none

Season 5: Linus Klasen, LW, age 22. GP 7; Pts 3; +2

Season 6: Oliver Kylington, D, 18.

Trade History

Season 2

Traded Sam Gagner, 2014 Round 1 pick (traded later) (used to draft Jonathan Drouin) and 2015 Round 2 pick (David Savard) to Stockholm for Eric Staal

* missing one trade, probably in this period.

Season 3

Traded Milan Lucic, 2016 Round 1 pick and 2017 Round 1 pick to Minsk for Zach Parise

Traded Devante Smith-Pelly, Ales Hemsky and 2016 Round 2 pick to St. Petersburg for Martin St. Louis

Traded 2015 Round 1 pick (Dan Dekeyser) and 2015 Round 3 pick (Alex Tuch) to Milan for Antti Niemi

Season 4

Traded Morgan Rielly, Eric Gelinas and 2017 Round 2 pick to Oslo for Ryan Suter

Traded Martin St. Louis, Antti Niemi, Erik Johnson, Scott Harrington, Zack Phillips, 2016 Round 3 pick (Andreas Englund), 2017 Round 3 pick and 2018 Round 1 pick to St. Petersburg for Pekka Rinne, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Blake Wheeler

Traded Zach Parise to Lisbon for 2016 Round 1 pick (Linus Klasen)

Traded Ryan Suter and Blake Wheeler to Moscow for Kevin Dallman and 2016 Round 1 pick (Olli Palola)

Traded 2018 Round 3 pick to Moscow for Aleksey Morozov

After Season 5 started

Signed Frazer McLaren (free agent)

Traded 2019 RD 3 pick to Copenhagen for Anthony Nigro (formerly named Chris Legge)

Claimed Louis Leblanc (waivers)

Season 6

Traded Patrick Marleau to Munich for Braydon Coburn and 2017 Round 3 pick (Oliver Kylington)

Traded Eric Staal to Stockholm for Mikko Koivu