Farm Club: Bergen (Norway) Bandits 

GM: Chris Lee (3rd GM in team’s history)

Coach: Dave Cameron (replaced Dave Hakstol after 1 game of Sesaon 8. Hakstol replaced Claude Julien after Season 6, who replaced Peter Laviolette after Season 3)

Last season: 23rd overall, out of the playoffs

Ins and Outs

(Season 8 to Season 9)

Out: Olivier Roland (free agent), Marc Staal (free agent), Kari Lehtonen (free agent)

In: Ben Bishop (waivers), Andrej Sekera (free agent), Jacob Moverare (draft), Henrik Haapala (draft), Moritz Wirth (draft)

In Place

(Key players signed past Season 9)

Tyler Seguin, C; Connor McDavid, C; Matt Murray, G; Viktor Antipin, D; Zach Werenski, D; Shayne Gostisbehere, D

 

 

 

Three Questions

1. Why are they still around the bottom of the standings? Season 8 marked the sixth straight season that the Outlaws placed 20th or worse. That was particularly disappoining for fans because Oslo seemed poised to challenge for playoff spot last season. Instead they challenged for the first overall draft pick yet again. It was a real lemon of a year and it’s very difficult to see why. They remind us of some NHL teams that loaded up with young assets and struggled when they should be progressing – like the Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers. Maybe it’s simply a lack of experience; or a lack of leadership; perhaps it’s poor coaching; maybe the fans in Oslo aren’t good at cheering or the players are too good at beer drinking after the games … it really is a mystery because Oslo has talent and really should be better than they have shown. There will be a 180-degree turnaround in Norway and for the long-suffering Oslo fans, may it be this season.

2. How is the offense on this team? This might be the area that needs the most help, even though Tyler Seguin and Connor McDavid are on the ice a lot for Oslo. The Outlaws were last in the league in shots per game (25.28) and goals per game (2.49), although their powerplay units were OK. Right now, Coach Dave Cameron can throw two good center-left wing combinations out there, but the tandems of Seguin-Zach Parise and McDavid-Tomas Hertl could both use better right wingers than Anthony Mantha and Devante Smith-Pelly. The other two lines are filled with young players with good potential – that’s really Oslo in a nutshell, young with potential – and fans in Norway are desperate for Cameron to find line combinations that help rather than hurt. Early signs are that Cameron will increase the ice time he gives Hertl, so look for him to be one of the keys to the season. Hertl is 25 and looks primed to improve upon on his personal best point total of 52 set in Season 6.

3. How about the Outlaws defense? Defensively, the Outlaws were almost as bad as they were offensively last season, but with the personnel Oslo has back there, that will drastically change sometime soon. Matt Murray has the potential to be the best goalie in the league someday and in front of him could be the very best group of defensemen in the league. Oslo has tons of potential on the blueline and the good thing is some those players are adept at protecting the crease area while others are wizards at moving the puck up and joining the offense. They complement each other very well. They are very inexperienced now, but if General Manager Chris Lee can keep them together, he will have something special. Viktor Antipin and rookie Jacob Moverare lack flash – they are flashless – but they will both be solid, dependable defensemen. Antipin is already the best shot blocker in the league and he’s only 22 this season. He has been in the EURO’s top 4 for blocked shots in each of the last three seasons, making him the leader over the last three years. Zach Werenski and Shayne Gostisbehere are exceptional puck movers and every coach in the world would love to have combinations like Antipin-Werenski and Moverare-Gostisbehere on their team, once they get more experienced, that is. Werenski and former Rookie of the Year Gostisbehere have only played three seasons combined, but they each have only double-figures in the goal column so far and you would have to assume that type of production will continue. Morgan Rielly and Eric Gelinas occupy the other two defense slots right now and they also have good futures, albeit not as bright as the other four have. Neither Rielly nor Gelinas is strong at the defensive side but they can add to the offense. Rielly can really skate and pass, but he gave the puck up too much last season.

History

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

Season 8            23         60      17.7      75.1     25.28     34.43      2.49      3.67    6.34

Season 7              20         67    17.6      80.9    25.00      35.32      2.65     3.54   7.65

Season 6             24        54     17.5      78.3      25.51      35.61     2.50     3.90   8.54

Season 5              24       41    10.9       78.5     23.34      34.59    2.22   3.83   8.71

Season 4              24         47    17.9     72.3   25.56    35.09   2.50     4.05   11.59

Season 3              21          75    16.2    83.4    27.82    33.43   3.07    3.66    12.21

Season 2              13         91  19.0    84.1    29.43    29.89    3.43    3.13    14.78

Season 1              10          93   17.6    80.8    31.83    29.71    3.66    3.35    10.80

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Shea Weber, D, current age 34. Games played: 638; points: 405; +119

Season 2: Fredrik Norrena, G, age 39. GP 71, Save Pct. 88.8 (retired)

Season 3: Elias Lindholm, C, age 25. GP 147, Pts 42, -14

Season 4: Tomas Hertl, LW, age 25. GP 359, Pts 215, -95

Season 5: Viktor Antipin, D, age 22. GP 328, Pts 62, -118

Season 6: Connor McDavid, C, 21. GP 190, Points 160, -61

Season 7: Shayne Gostisbehere, D, age 24. GP 162, Points 77,  -72

Season 8: Matt Murray, G, age 23. GP 67, Save Pct. 90.0

Season 9: Jacob Moverare, D, age 20. 

Trade History

Season 1 (picks without years listed are from initial draft)

Traded Round 5 pick (used to draft Andrew Ladd) and Round 7 pick (Alex Goligoski) toCopenhagen for Round 3 pick (Jimmy Howard)

Traded Round 4 pick (Radim Vrbata) and Round 6 pick (Johan Franzen) to Bern for Daniel Sedin and Round 12 pick (Max Talbot)

Traded Round 17 pick (Zac Rinaldo) and 2013 Round 1 pick (Alex Galchenyuk) to Minsk for Round 8 pick

Traded Round 8 pick (Andrej Meszaros) and Round 12 pick (Boyd Gordon) to Copenhagen for Alexandre Burrows

Traded Justin Williams to Geneva for Matt D’Agostini, 2014 Round 2 pick (Andrei Loktionov) and $250,000

Traded 2014 Round 3 pick (Samuel Morin) to Milan for Dustin Penner

Season 2

Traded Thomas Vanek to Prague for P-A Parenteau

Traded Mark Giordano to Stockholm for Mark Fayne and 2014 Round 3 pick (Guillaume Latendresse)

Season 3

Traded Jimmy Howard to Berlin for Semyon Varlamov and Jarkko Immonen

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

Traded Ryan Suter to Gothenburg for Morgan Rielly, Eric Gelinas and 2017 Round 2 pick (Brayden McNabb)

Season 4

Traded 2016 Round 3 pick (traded later to Stockholm – Ryan Gunderson) to Helsinki for Wojtek Wolski

Season 5

Season 6

After Season 6 started: Signed Devan Dubnyk (free agent)

Season 7 

Traded 2018 Round 1 pick (Patrik Laine) to St. Petersburg for Devante Smith-Pelly and 2018 Round 1 pick (Shayne Gostisbehere)

Season 8

Traded Semyon Varlamov to St. Petersburg for Kari Lehtonen and Anthony Mantha

Season 9