GM: Michael Cronebach (3rd GM in team’s history); Trevor Grimm (2nd GM in team’s history)
Coach: Doug Weight (replaced Barry Trotz after Season 7)
Last season: 9th overall; In playoffs, lost to Moscow in Round 1.
Ins and Outs
(Season 7 to Season 8)
Out: Henrik Lundquist (free agent), Pavel Datsyuk (retired), Ville Peltonen (retired) , Niklas Hjalmarsson (free agent), Chad Johnson (free agent)
In: Michal Neuvirth (free agent), Ryan Hartman (draft), Brett Ritchie (draft), Stephen Johns (draft)
In Place
(Key players signed past Season 8)
Alexander Radulov, RW; Paul Stastny, C; Nerius Alisauskas, D; Matt Dumba, D; Eliezer Sherbatov, LW; Boone Jenner, LW
Three Questions
1. How will the Jokerit possibly play without the King? Henrik Lundquist is gone! Long live Michal Neuvirth and Stanislav Galimov! “King Henrik” was the 12th player ever drafted in the EURO League and the sixth goalie when the Edinburgh Capitals took him, and not too long after, when Trevor Grimm took over the team, Helsinki paid a king’s ransom to get Lundquist to Finland. Grimm traded away John Tavares, goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, a pick that turned out to be goalie Jakub Kovar and $5 million in US dollars (you could add money to deals back in those days) for Lundquist. The goalie played great for Helsinki but he never carried the team higher than 8th place in the standings or into a Cup Finals series. Lundquist had an impressive 91.1 save percentage across his seven seasons in Helsinki and was an all-star four times, but he’s gone to Copenhagen on a free agent contract now and the team is suddenly shaky in goal. Neuvirth, a 30-year-old Czech who is on his fourth EURO team and getting his first crack at the number one job, will see if he can help Helsinki fans get over the King’s departure. Coming into the season, he had 74 games under his belt and a lifetime save percentage of 89.1 to go with a goals against average of a respectable 3.23. Galimov is a 22-year-old Russian who was never drafted, but team officials like his technique and hope that with more experience he will develop into a bonafide EURO-caliber goalie.
2. Will they lead the league in penalties for the sixth straight season? Helsinki averaged more than 7 minor penalties every game last year. The Jokerit have led the league in penalty minutes for five consecutive seasons. They love to intimidate and punish opponents, but how about those digits on the scoreboard under the word “Goals,” guys? Aren’t they important too? Let’s see if new Coach Doug Weight can keep them out of the penalty box and at even strength a little more than Barry Trotz could. If they had shorthanded goal wizard Kyle Turris on the team, maybe the could afford the extra penalty or two, but Turris plays in Paris. Last year, Helsinki sacrificed 14.34 minutes of offensive pressure every game on average by having a guy in the penalty box. And that at a time when Helsinki’s offense has been clicking better than it has at any time in its history. The team’s 31.87 shots on goal average and its goals per game average of 3.27 last season were both the best ever in Helsinki.
3. Who can carry the Jokerit upward? Even Eliezer Sherbatov himself has to be wondering if he can repeat the amazing season he had last season, his sixth as a full-time Jokerit starter. He was just 23 when the season started and skating on the team’s third line. Fast-forward to the middle of the season and the young Israeli was skating for the Northern Conference in the All-Star Game, and by the season’s end, he finished second on the team in scoring with 63 points and third in goals with 25 – at just 13 minutes of ice time per game. He was also the team leader in plus-minus with a plus 37 rating, a score so good that only three other left wings in the league were ahead of him in that category. Still, hockey experts can’t explain why he played so well last year. They still think his size (5-9, 165 pounds) will hold him back and prevent him from staying productive across an entire, rigorous 82-game season and the playoffs. But Sherbatov has blazing speed and good puck skills. Coach Weight has promoted Sherbatov to the second line to play with Brayden Schenn and Paul Stastny, who has led the team in scoring every season. Another young player who could boost the team with his play is 24-year-old Lithuanian defenseman Nerius Alisauskas, who was second on the team to Sherbatov in plus-minus at plus 30 last season. “Ali” likes to play a rough-and-tumble game he says he models after countryman Darius Kasparaitis of NHL fame, and last year was his best offensively with 45 points including 33 assists.
History
Season Place PTS PP % PK % SPG SAPG GPG GAPG PIM
Season 7 9 97 16.4 84.1 31.87 28.38 3.27 2.91 14.34
Season 6 9 91 14.6 85.7 29.96 29.48 3.18 2.98 12.87
Season 5 8 99 20.4 81.3 30.41 30.80 3.22 3.00 12.54
Season 4 13 83 18.8 83.3 29.43 32.65 2.96 3.13 13.60
Season 3 9 91 17.9 87.3 29.17 32.76 2.90 2.91 15.88
Season 2 14 89 17.5 82.9 30.43 31.93 3.01 2.99 14.48
Season 1 17 84 21.7 80.8 30.01 33.09 3.15 3.49 9.63
Top Draft picks
Season 1: John Tavares, C, current age 28. Games played: 571; points: 700; -12
Season 2: Nerius Alisauskas, D, age 24. GP 467, Pts 209, +80
Season 3: Cody Eakin, C, age 26, GP 334, Pts 148, +21
Season 4: Sam Bennett, C, age 21.
Season 5: Adrian Kempe, LW, age 21.
Season 6: Mitch Marner, C, age 20.
Season 7: Tyler Jost, C/LW, age 19.
Season 8: Ryan Hartman, LW, age 22.
Trade History
Season 1 (picks without years listed are from initial draft)
Traded Round 4 pick (used to draft Stephen Weiss) to Copenhagen for Round 5 pick (used to draft Paul Stastny) and Round 12 pick (Marc Staal)
Traded John Tavares, Ilya Bryzgalov, 2013 Round 2 pick (Jakub Kovar) and $5 million to Edinburgh for Henrik Lundqvist
Traded Jamie McGinn to Milan for Nik Antropov, 2013 Round 2 pick (traded later) (Olexander Podbyedonostsev) and 2013 Round 3 pick (Matthew Dumba)
Traded Jakub Silfverberg and 2013 Round 2 pick (Olexander Podbyedonostsev) to Dublin for Boone Jenner
Season 2
Traded Alexander Burmistrov to Minsk for Brayden Scheen and Kyle Clifford
Traded Martin St. Louis and 2015 Round 3 (Jakub Vrana) to St. Petersburg for Jarome Iginla
*Colton Gillies was once Helsinki property but is with Paris now. Not sure if trade was involved.
Sorry Trevor, I seem to be missing some trades from this period.
Season 3
Traded Nick Spaling to Minsk for 2015 Round 3 pick (Brandon Montour)
Traded Sven Baertschi to Minsk for 2014 Rd 2 pick (Hunter Shinkaruk)
Season 4
Traded Kyle Clifford and Gareth Roberts to Frankfurt for Travis Zajac
Season 5
Traded Jacob Trouba to Zurich for Alexander Radulov
Traded Wojtek Wolski to Oslo for 2016 Round 3 pick (later traded to Stockholm-Ryan Gunderson)
Traded 2016 Round 1 (Later traded to Gothenburg – Olli Palola) pick to Moscow for Nicolas Ehlers
Traded 2016 Round 2 pick (Connor Bleackley) and 2016 Round 3 pick (Ryan Gunderson) to Stockholm for Nikita Scherbak
Signed Stanislav Galimov (free agent)
Signed Peter Budaj (free agent)
Signed Patryk Wajda (free agent)
Signed Marc-Andre Bergeron (free agent)
Season 6
Traded 2017 Round 3 pick (Johan Larsson) to Stockholm for Pavel Datsyuk
Traded Derek Roy and Carlo Colaiacovo to Madrid for Nick Holden
After Season 6 started:
Traded Mitch Marner to Moscow for Brock Boeser
