Season 7 profile: Zurich Lions

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GM: Dennis Sullo (4th GM in team’s history)

Coach: Peter Laviolette (replaced Paul MacLean after Season 4)

Last season: 14th overall, lost to Paris in Round 1

Ins and Outs (Season 6 to Season 7)

Out: Ilya Kovalchuk (trade), Michael Frolik (free agent), Mark Giordano (free agent), Ben Smith (waivers), Joe Colborne (free agent), Jeff Zatkoff (free agent)

In: T.J. Oshie (free agent), Derick Brassard (free agent), Artem Anisimov (trade), Brad Richards (trade), Anthony Duclair (draft), Charles MacAvoy (draft), Jake DeBrusk (draft)

In Place (Key players signed past Season 7)

T.J. Oshie, RW; Jakub Voracek, RW; Artem Anisimov, LW; Jacob Trouba, D; Cam Ward, G

Three Questions

1. Could Peter Laviolette be on the hot seat? Zurich has been one of the league’s most consistent teams over the last five seasons, trying – with a few other teams – to scratch their way up to Paris/Berlin territory in the Southern Conference in order to go further in the playoffs. While Zurich’s point total has stayed in the 80s under Coach Peter Laviolette, the team stats show some disturbing trends since he took over control of the Lions in Season 5. Since the Paul MacLean days, Zurich’s penalty killing efficiency rate has gotten worse at the same time as the shots against averages have gotten worse. Laviolette is know as an offense-minded coach, so the drops in defensive numbers were expected and all that would be fine if the offensive rates counter-acted them. Shots per game have gone up under Laviolette and the powerplay was good during one of his two seasons, but the all-important goals-per-game rate under Laviolette is going in the wrong direction. Personnel changes made by General Manager Dennis Sullo caused some shakeups in the Lions’ lines, but there is still an awful lot of talent there. While there are not really any unemployed coaches out there who could be considered better than Laviolette, the coach must be wondering about his long-term job security.

2. Do they still have skill up front? Zurich fans have never said “We don’t have enough good forwards,” because Dennis Sullo, general manager, seems to be an expert in filling his roster with skilled players up front. This year is no different. The Lions forwards are a little more well-rounded than they might have been in the past, led as always by Patrice Bergeron. Just about any combination of lines Coach Peter Laviolette writes down on the official game lineup card is going to work, all the way down to the current fourth line of Patrick Sharp, Jussi Jokinen and Markus Granlund. The collection includes defensive experts like Bergeron and T.J. Oshie; snipers like Sharp and Tomas Tatar, and a host of playmakers like Jakub Voracek and Derick Brassard. The team’s record might not always show it, but Zurich is again loaded with talented forwards.

3. What about the defense? A great collection of forwards isn’t going to be able to prove its worth without the puck, and Sullo made moves in seasons past to acquire two excellent puck-moving defensemen in Jacob Trouba and Tyson Barrie. They are not playing on the same pairing, so one of them or the other is usually on the ice, trying to hit streaking forwards up ice. But Cam Ward, John Gibson and the other goalies on the team would appreciate some strong defense as well. This might be where the team falls down. Trouba will be a premiere blueliner in the league but he and Barrie both have some growing to do. Veteran Marc Staal complements Trouba on the first pairing and defense-minded Braydon Coburn works with Barrie as the second duo. German Alexander Weiss, 24, is a starter this season for the first time and Matt Bartkowski is a good shot blocker playing with Weiss. The Lions don’t take a lot of penalties and their team toughness could be brought into question. The last Lion to get into a fight was Dale Weise in Season 4.