GM: Geoffrey Paul (second GM in team’s history) NOTE: After 30 games, Rodney Carringer acquired the team.

Coach: Darryl Sutter (replaced Ken Hitchcock after Season 6)

Last season: 11th overall; In playoffs, lost to Belfast

Ins and Outs

(Season 6 to Season 7)

Out: Teddy Purcell (free agent); Dmitry Orlov (free agent); Jamie McBain (free agent); Tyler Bozak (free agent); Jiri Hudler (free agent); Jake Muzzin (free agent)

In: Ryan Miller (free agent); Ryan Spooner (draft), Joonas Donskoi (draft), Logan Stanley (draft)

In Place

(Key players signed past Season 7)

Rick Nash, RW; Taylor Hall, LW; Jeff Skinner, C; Brandon Saad, LW; Martin Jones, G

Three Questions

1. What happened in the off season? After a nice draft in which the Dons picked up Ryan Spooner, Joonas Donskoi and Logan Stanley, London failed – for an unknown reason – at the negotiating table with its free agents. Departing England were three starting defensemen and three starting forwards. No new free agents were hired and the draftees are not ready for prime time, so the six replacements are simply players who sat the bench last year. Whether it was a case of ridding the team of deadwood or bad influences in the dressing room, simply an unfortunate oversight, or something having to do with the Brexit vote, the Dons have a pretty different makeup this season and one would assume they have taken a step backwards.

2. What is their strongest asset? For years, London was known for its stable of young skill forwards. Last season, offense was not a problem for the Dons. That all still holds true this season. Opposing defenses have to contend with Jeff Skinner, Taylor Hall, Brandon Saad, Nikita Kucherov and Artemy Panarin, who are all a real handful and all 26 or younger. Rick Nash is the oldest star forward and he was able to score 27 goals and 78 points as a 32-year-old last season. That gives new coach Darryl Sutter two strong lines. Coming through the pipeline are Ryan Spooner, Joonas Donskoi, Frenchman Gregory Beron, Jason Zucker, Anders Lee, William Nylander and Travis Konecny  … it’s like a conveyor belt of talented forwards.

3. Are they in trouble on defense? Yes. London needed to pick up its defense stats this season and allowing Dmitry Orlov, Jake Muzzin and Jamie McBain to leave via free agency seems contrary to that goal. Orlov and Muzzin came to London together in a trade that sent Zach Bogosian to Stockholm a few seasons ago. London currently lists only six defensemen on the roster and while top pairing guys Kevin Shattenkirk and Jake Gardiner will be better this year due to the fact they got a year older, London could have used an improvement in the other four spots. Rasmus Ristolainen will be great, but he isn’t yet, and Marco Scandella and Dylan Olsen are certainly steady, but perhaps not second pairing quality. At the bottom of the depth chart is Tim Erixon, 26, who is being asked to step up his game as a starter following four seasons of being an injury fill-in. Behind the defense pairs, London has one of the best young goalies in the league in Martin Jones, who has a 90.3 save percentage through two seasons as a starter in the EURO League.

History

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

Season 6              11          89           20.2   81.0   28.93   31.40      3.33    3.33   8.35

Season 5              10          93          16.6     79.4  28.82   30.26    3.26   3.00    7.99

Season 4              16           81         16.2    81.5   29.68    31.62     3.12    3.40     8.61

Season 3              21           75         16.3    75.7   30.24    30.94     3.09    3.51    11.10

Season 2              23           56         16.2    77.2    26.96    34.29    2.66    3.84    11.24

Season 1              15           88        14.9    83.5    30.79    29.77    3.07    3.13    10.79

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Marc-Andre Fleury, G, current age 33. Games played: 349; Save Pct: 89.6

Season 2: Jimmie Ericsson, LW, age 24. GP 198, Pts 73, +12

Season 3: Braden Holtby, G, age 27. GP 252, Save pct: 90.3

Season 4: Martin Jones, G, age 26. GP 130, Save Pct. 90.4

Season 5: Artemy Panarin, RW, age 26. GP 123, Pts 46, +6

Season 6: Anders Lee, LW, age 25. GP 13, Points 3, -2

Season 7: Ryan Spooner, C, age 23.

Trade History

Season 2

Traded Semyon Varmalov to Berlin for Andrey Bykov, Tim Erixon and 2014 Round 2 pick (Robert Hagg)

Traded 2016 Round 3 pick to Minsk for Tobias Stephan

Traded Tobias Stephan to Minsk for 2016 Round 3 pick

* missing two trades, one which sent Bykov to Oslo.

Season 3

Traded Tyler Seguin and Luca Sbisa to Oslo for Pavel Datsyuk and Shea Weber

Traded Braden Holtby to Stockholm for Sam Gagner, Michal Neuvirth and 2015 Round 1 pick (Nikita Kucherov)

Traded Shea Weber to Copenhagen for Kevin Shattenkirk, Teddy Purcell and Carl Gunnarsson

Season 4

Traded Zach Bogosian to Stockholm for Dmitri Orlov and Jake Muzzin

Season 5 

Season 6

After Season 6 started:

Traded Erik Forssell and 2018 Round 3 pick (Adam Mascherin) to Berlin for 2018 Round 2 pick (Bern’s – Joonas Donskoi) and 2019 Round 2 pick (Stockholm’s)

Season 7

After season started: Traded 2019 Round 2 pick to Berlin for Dion Phaneuf; signed Theo Peckham (free agent), Justin Braun (free agent), lost Ryan Spooner (waivers), lost Joonas Donskoi (waivers)