GM: David Bell (2nd GM in team’s history)
Coach: Ken Hitchcock (replaced Bruce Boudreau after Season 6, who replaced Randy Carlyle after Season 3)
Last season: 19th overall, out of the playoffs
Ins and Outs (Season 6 to Season 7)
Out: Brent Seabrook (free agent), Niklas Danielsson (trade), Mark Letestu (free agent), Brandon McMillan (free agent), Mikko Rantanen (trade)
In: Jake Muzzin (free agent), Nick Bjugstad (trade), Brock Nelson (waivers), Marc-Andre Boudon (waivers), Rob Fabbri (trade), Matthew Tkachuk (draft), Luke Kunin (draft), Phil Di Giuseppe (draft), Andrew Copp (draft), Linus Ullmark (draft)
In Place (Key players signed past Season 7)
Kyle Okposo, RW; Jaden Schwartz, C; Andrew Hammond, G; Tyler Johnson, C;, Luca Sbisa, D; Danny DeKeyser, D
Three Questions
1. How far from their peak are the young Milan players? Milan went into a rebuild a few seasons ago, letting older players like Trevor Daley, Brian Campbell and Brent Seabrook leave via free agency and Guerriero fans are waiting for the team’s young players to prove they can start winning. But the wait will continue this season because they are still among the youngest teams in the EURO League. They start just one player who has celebrated his 30th birthday, and that’s Andrew MacDonald, who teams with Marc-Andre Bourdon on the third pair of defensemen. What the team lacks in experience and leadership it is hoping to make up in skating speed and puck skills. Milan should always play the puck up the right side because they have unprecedented speed on that wing. Par Arlbrandt was a 100 speed rating, while the three other right wings – Tyler Johnson, Peter Mueller and Tomas Zaborsky – can also fly, with speed ratings of 92 or higher. The remainder of the team’s forwards also have excellent skating speed and they should definitely stress opposition defensemen and forwards who better be in top shape when they play Milan.
2. Can the Guerrieros’ goal-against average drop again? The team’s goals against average dropped from 3.88 to 3.24 in three seasons and they have mostly the same pieces in place. So the extra experience they have gained should mean they will do just as well if not better this season. Italian Luca Sbisa is at the top of the depth chart on defense and he has earned a reputation as a premiere checker. In the last four seasons, Sbisa was credited with more than 230 hits and of all active defenseman, he is ranked 8th all-time in that category. Dan Dekeyser and Jake Muzzin are smart players who concentrate more on getting into shooting lanes, and T.J. Brennan is more adept at moving the puck up ice. Those four and five other defensemen in the oragnization are all between 26 and 28 years old, so as a team, Milan should be stronger on Dee three seasons from now than they are today. Andrew Hammond should be the goalie behind them then, as he is now. Hammond is one of the most important players in a Milan uniform and he has the ability to out-and-out steal games for his team. Nine games into Season 7, Hammond is 7th best in the EURO in save percentage, which is right where he ranked last year in his rookie season.
3. What is the recipe for success this year? Milan is playing in a tough division, with Paris, Madrid, Bratislava and Athens no weaker than they have been in previous seasons. That means 24 of the Guerrieros’ games are against what are currently Top 10 teams in the EURO League. It is imperative that Milan steal some points against those four clubs. Looking at last season’s statistics, it appears the powerplay really held them back. They were third-worst in the league at scoring with the man advantage and early this season, only Helsinki has a lower PP success rate. They must get better on the PP. A lot of pressure has to be felt by the best passers on the team – Kyle Okposo, Tomas Zaborsky and Marcus Kruger – and by Tyler Johnson, who is the passers’ target man on the first PP unit. They have two powerful slapshots on the points with T.J. Brennan and Jake Muzzin and on the second unit, Coach Ken Hitchcock is relying heavily on faceoff expert Jamie McGinn and Mathis Olimb, who has a good shot. What those players and Coach Hitchcock manage to conjure up with the man advanatge could be the key to the Guerrieros’ season.
History
Season Place PTS PP % PK % SPG SAPG GPG GAPG PIM
Season 6 19 74 13.2 76.6 28.27 32.04 2.68 3.24 6.34
Season 5 23 58 17.7 80.1 27.56 31.96 2.45 3.52 7.80
Season 4 22 65 15.3 78.0 27.98 34.23 2.72 3.88 9.82
Season 3 22 62 13.3 81.3 26.88 31.39 2.72 3.71 11.62
Season 2 16 86 15.7 84.1 32.62 28.82 3.33 3.32 12.68
Season 1 7 101 19.8 85.6 31.23 27.30 3.74 3.15 11.41
Top Draft picks
Season 1: Gabriel Landeskog, LW, current age 25. Games played: 488; points: 450; -113
Season 2: Gerhard Unterluggauer, D, age 33. GP 379, Pts 143, +41
Season 3: Ben Bishop, G, age 30. GP 140, Save Pct. 88.3
Season 4: Tyler Johnson, C, age 26. GP 246, Pts 154, -199
Season 5: Par Arlbrandt, RW, age 23. GP 157, Pts 57, -5
Season 6: Andrew Hammond, G, age 27. GP 66, Save Pct 90.9
Season 7: Matthew Tkachuk, LW, age 18.
Trade History
Season 1 (picks without years listed are from initial draft)
Traded Round 6 pick (used to draft David Perron), Round 21 pick (Mike Green) and 2013 Round 1 pick (Ossi Vaananen) to Paris for Round 3 pick (used to draft Dustin Byfuglien), Round 20 pick (Jonathan Bernier) and Round 26 pick (Jeff Woywitka)
Traded Gabriel Landeskog to Madrid for Dustin Brown, Round 10 pick (Trevor Daley) and Round 11 pick (Chris Kreider)
Traded Round 20 pick (Jonathan Bernier) and Round 22 pick (Jakub Kindl) to St. Petersburg for Round 18 pick (Brandon Gormley)
Traded Round 20 pick (David Steckel) to Bratislava for 2013 Round 2 pick (later traded) (Olexander Podbyedonostsev)
Traded Andrew Cogliano to Edinburgh for 2013 Round 2 pick (Gerhard Unterluggauer)
Traded Zbynek Michalek and Jaroslav Spacek to Dublin for 2013 Round 2 pick (Niklas Danielsson) and $1.35 million
Traded Jordan Staal, Chris Kreider, 2013 Round 2 pick (Jonas Brodin) and $250,000 to Madrid for Henrik Sedin
Traded Brad Boyes to Athens for 2013 Round 3 pick (Magnus Johansson)
Traded Nik Antropov, 2013 Round 2 pick (Olexander Podbyedonostsev) and 2013 Round 3 pick (Matthew Dumba) to Helsinki for Jamie McGinn
Traded Viktor Stalberg, 2014 Round 1 pick (Cam Atkinson) and $1 million to St. Petersburg for Daniel Alfredsson
Traded Brian Rolston to Madrid for 2013 Round 2 pick (later traded) (Eliezer Sherbatov)
Traded Dustin Penner to Oslo for 2014 Round 3 (later traded) (Samuel Morin)
Season 2
Traded Antoine Vermette to Prague for Jay McClement and 2013 Round 2 pick (Dimitrios Kalyvas)
Traded 2013 Round 2 pick (Eliezer Sherbatov) to Helsinki for Mikkel Boedker
Traded Jason Garrison to Moscow for Vaclav Prospal and 2014 Round 2 pick (T.J. Brennan)
Season 3
Traded Dustin Brown and 2014 Round 2 pick (Marcus Foligno) to Stockholm for Kyle Okposo and 2014 Round 1 pick (Brendan Gallagher)
Traded Dustin Byfuglien to Athens for Marcus Kruger, Joel Armia, 2014 Round 1 pick (Ben Bishop) and 2015 Round 2 pick (Alex Stalock)
Traded Mike Richards and 2015 Round 2 pick (later traded to Madrid – Jake Virtanen) to Stockholm for Jaden Schwartz
Traded Ryan Callahan to Berlin for Matt Read and 2014 Round 2 pick (Josh Morrisey)
Traded Matt Moulson to Copenhagen for Tomas Zaborsky
Traded Dimitrios Kalyvas to Athens for Johnny Boychuk
Traded 2014 Round 3 pick (Valentin Zykov ) to Athens for 2017 Round 3 pick (later traded to Bratislava – Brendan Guhle)
Traded Gerhard Unterluggauer and Matt Read to Berlin for Joakim Lindstrom and Mathis Olimb
Traded Magnus Johansson to Stockholm for Thomas Hickey
Traded Antti Niemi to Gothenburg for 2015 Round 1 (Dan Dekeyser) and 2015 Round 3 pick (Alex Tuch)
Season 4
Season 5
After the start of Season 5:
Signed Sean Bergenheim (free agent)
Traded Jonathan Blum to Copenhagen for Brian Campbell and 2018 Round 3 pick (Phil Di Giuseppe)
Season 6
Traded 2017 Round 3 pick (Brendan Guhle) to Bratislava for 2018 Round 3 pick (Andrew Copp)
After Season 6 started: Traded Mikko Rantanen to Belfast for Robby Fabbri and 2019 Round 3 pick (Zurich’s).
Claimed Alex Killorn on waivers and then lost him on waivers
Signed Patrick Thoresen (free agent)
Season 7
Traded Niklas Danielsson to Lisbon for Nick Bjugstad
After season started: lost Chris Tanev (waivers)
