Farm Club: Venice (Italy) Griffins 
GM: Dennis Sullo (4th GM in team’s history)
Coach: Peter Laviolette (replaced Paul MacLean after Season 4)
Last season: 24th overall; out of playoffs
Ins and Outs (Season 8 to Season 9)
Out: Artem Anisimov (free agent), Mikael Granlund (free agent), Ryan Suter (free agent), Jaroslav Halak (bought out), Joonas Donskoi (free agent), Marek Mazanec (bought out)
In: Carey Price (free agent), Alexander Polunin (draft), Alexey Toropchenko (draft), Antoine Morand (draft)
In Place (Key players signed past Season 9)
Patrice Bergeron, C; Jakub Voracek, RW; Carey Price, G; Jacob Trouba, D; Alexander Polunin, RW
Three Questions
1. Some people in Zurich seem optimistic. Why? Zurich picked up a good young forward with the second pick in the draft and then acquired one of the best goalies in the business thanks to a load of cash during free agency. That’s why. Yes, they dropped in the standings for the second straight year and landed in the basement (by tie-breaker criteria) last season, but they have the building blocks in place for a quick resurgence. The best building block is that new $40 million block in goal. Former Minsk star Carey Price was lured to Switzerland with a $10m per year, three-year deal and a player option. Price, 32, has a career save percentage of 90.4, three individual trophies and two Cups, including the most recent one. He will have a largely inexperienced defense corps in front of him, but Jakub Voracek, Patrice Bergeron and rookie Alexander Polunin, a Russian taken in the draft, will help keep the puck in the other end of the rink.
2. Why were they the worst team in the EURO last year? We don’t have an explanation that makes sense. Sorry. Maybe it was Coach Peter Laviolette or a combinaton of young defensemen and goaltenders, because as we look up and down the Lions roster, we don’t understand how it could have been bad at all. Maybe it was simply bad luck. Most observers like the fact that even though Zurich stumbled out of the starting gate and never really got going, they never gave up either. General Manager Dennis Sullo didn’t panic and make bad trades in an attempt to change the rhythm and the team seems better off for it. The forward group seems a pretty capable group, especially at right wing where veteran T.J. Oshie finds himself in a battle for ice time with the new kid Polunin. The team’s third line will find Oshie starting the season with Brayden Point and Dmitrij Jaskin. That’s a pretty darn good third line for a 24th-place team. The Lions don’t have a tough guy-grinder type up front and fourth-liner Charlie Coyle (pretty good fourth-liner there) is the only one who will drop his gloves if the going gets tough.
3. OK, how about that so-called inexperienced defense you’ve been talking about? The acquistion of the $10 million goalie might be the reason Radko Gudas is starting the season with the Venice Griffins. Gudas engaged in 5 fights last season, and as we said, Coyle will have his hands full this season as the team policeman. The defense corps in Zurich is unusual. First off, there are 14 defensemen on the packed roster including Gudas and he’s the oldest of them all at 28. Twenty-year-old Charlie McAvoy will start this season and the press that covers the team say he will get lots of ice time. He is even penciled in on the top pair with former Helsinki Jokerit Jacob Trouba. Canadian Maxim Noreau is good defensively and he will play a lot when the Lions are killing penalties; so will Derek Forbert. Providing offensive creativity with Trouba will be Alexander Weiss and Tyson Barrie, who is the fastest skater on the team. Those six offer a good mix of ability. For example, Weiss and McAvoy have great hockey sense; Trouba and Barrie are excellent puck handlers. But they all have inexperience in common so look for the Lions to leave players unmarked in front, lose board battles, and give the puck away too often.
History
Season Place PTS PP % PK % SPG SAPG GPG GAPG PIM
Season 8 24 60 15.4 82.6 28.10 29.07 2.52 3.57 9.93
Season 7 18 71 14.8 78.9 29.33 29.34 2.96 3.44 8.50
Season 6 14 86 16.6 79.4 28.63 30.74 3.11 3.30 7.83
Season 5 15 82 20.2 80.4 29.66 30.71 3.29 3.38 7.39
Season 4 9 96 19.0 81.3 31.60 28.98 3.60 3.22 9.71
Season 3 15 85 15.8 81.3 31.13 29.44 3.52 3.54 11.99
Season 2 8 97 17.7 83.1 30.04 28.27 3.26 2.91 11.27
Season 1 22 58 17.1 81.9 28.72 31.37 2.83 3.88 10.55
Top Draft picks
Season 1: Patrice Bergeron, C, currently age 34. GP 647, Pts 666, -133
Season 2: Alexander Radulov, RW, age 27. GP 532, Pts 446, -50
Season 3: Tyson Barrie, D, age 27. GP 396, Pts 173, -10
Season 4: Tomas Tatar, LW, age 28. GP 407, Pts 231, -47
Season 5: Alexander Weiss, D, age 26. GP 219, Pts 66, -41
Season 6: John Gibson, G, age 24. GP 55, Save Percentage 88.5
Season 7: Anthony Duclair, RW, age 22. GP 47, Pts 12, -5
Season 8: Brayden Point, C, age 21. GP 74, Pts 24, -7
Season 9: Alexander Polunin, RW, age 21.
Trade History
Season 1 (picks without years listed are from initial draft)
Traded Brad Richards to St. Petersburg for Patrick Kane
Traded Michael Ryder to Prague for Jussi Jokinen
Season 4
Traded Brian Elliott to Copenhagen for Roberto Luongo
Traded Alexander Radulov to Helsinki for Jacob Trouba
Traded Martin Thornberg to Copenhagen for 2016 Round 3 pick (Michael Keranen)
Traded Patrick Kane to Minsk for Jakub Voracek, Nathan Beaulieu and 2016 Round 1 pick (Sandro Zurkirchen)
Traded 2019 Round 3 pick (Drake Caggiula) to Belfast for Devan Dubnyk
Season 5
After Season 5 started Signed Ondrej Roman (free agent), signed Jimmy Hayes (free agent)
Season 6
After Season 6 started: Traded Janne Niskala to Minsk for Dmitrij Jaskin
Signed Nick Palmieri (free agent); claimed Mark Giordano (waivers), claimed Jori Lehtera (waivers), lost Jimmy Hayes (waivers)
Season 7
Traded Ilya Kovalchuk to St. Petersburg for Artem Anisimov, Brad Richards and 2019 Round 3 pick (Matt Benning)
after season 7 started: Claimed Jesper fast (waivers), Joonas Donskoi (waivers); lost Ben Smith (waivers)
Season 8
After Season 8 started: Claimed Mikael Granlund (waivers); Lost Michael Keranen (waivers); Signed Jaroslav Halak (free agent); Bought out Cam Ward
Season 9
