Season 9: Gothenburg Frolunda

pro Gothenburg

Owner: Bogdan Podarok, entrepeneur

Farm Club: Aalborg (Denmark) Pirates Aalborg Pirates

GM: Austin Dwyer (3rd GM in team’s history)

Coach: Randy Carlyle (replaced Guy Boucher after Season 5)

Last season: 22nd overall; missed playoffs

Ins and Outs (Season 8 to Season 9)

Out: Alec Martinez (free agent), Cal Clutterbuck (free agent), Mikko Koivu (free agent), Matt Calvert (free agent), Benn Ferriero (free agent)

In: Dylan Sikura (draft), Spencer Smallman (draft), Jake Leschyshyn (draft), Kristaps Zile (free agent), D’Artagnan Joy (free agent), Dylan Olsen (waivers)

In Place (Key players signed past Season 9)

Jordan Eberle, RW; Adam Henrique, C; Dylan Sikura, C; Linus Klasen, LW; Olli Palola, RW

Three Questions

1. Long-term, where is this team going? Previous general managers left Austin Dwyer without a solid base of youth, but he is managing to build a stable of young thoroughbreds up front. If lightning-fast Petr Vrana re-ups with the team long-term, expect the Frolunda to send at least two speedy, highly skillful lines over the boards every time you play them. Adam Henrique, Jordan Eberle and Vrana haven’t hit 30 yet, so they have plenty of life in their legs, and the younger reinforcements include the highly creative Dylan Sikura with Californian Beau Bennett and Scandinavians Olli Palola and Linus Klasen. Dwyer also acquired free agent D’Artagnan Joly and draftee Spencer Smallman, two Canadians who the coach will be able to plug into secondary lines in the future and get good return. Oscar Klefbom, 25, is the best young defenseman on the squad and the traits he has in common with the young forwards are elite skating ability and offensive creativity.

2. What was the problem last year? Frolunda wasn’t particularly strong anywhere outside of Adam Henrique’s skates and stick, but what seemed to have hurt them most was the combination of taking the third-most penalties in the league and then trying to fend off their opponents with the fourth-worst penalty killers in the league. Maybe Baylor University teaches some new type of philosophy we don’t get yet, but we think it would be a good idea for GM Dwyer to reverse those two stats. Actually, players on opposing teams get a little queasy when they see Gothenburg on the schedule because they know they will have to eventually deal with tough guys Mark Fraser and Mikhail Pashnin, Gothenburg’s resident Dr. Evil and Mini Me. Fraser, at 6-4, 220, has dropped the gloves more than anyone in EURO history and Pashnin, at just 5-11, 190, can be goaded into a fight with these words: “Hi.” Fraser and Pashnin are capable defenders but they just are not going to stop punching people, so Gothenburg needs to shore up its penalty killing, a task that falls to Coach Randy Carlyle and players like Henrique, Carl Hagelin and Marc-Eduard Vlasic.

3. How is the goaltending? The Frolunda were and are better than they showed in Season 8 when they had what, for them, was a miserable season. Gothenburg dropped 12 places in standings from Season 7 to Season 8. Their offense inexplicably shriveled and they let far too many goals into their own net. Pekka Rinne is regarded as one of the best goaltenders in the business, but he wasn’t that good last year. Perhaps his sub-standard showing was a team effort, but it’s more likely Father Time is holding him back. Rinne is 37 this season and his goals against average and save percentage have both worsened in each of the last two seasons. Compare his Season 8 stats (3.31 and 89.2) to his Season 6 stats (2.73 and 90.3) and you will see what we are talking about. Rinne certainly tries his lionheart out, but he may not have what it takes anymore to carry the Frolunda deep into the playoffs. And Dwyer is probably going to be unable to do anything about that because 37-year-olds with $9 million price tags don’t exactly sell like new iPhones. Backup Ben Scrivens is an unlikely candidate to save the day for Frolunda. Dwyer is going to have to come up with a plan to get a goalie in there next season. Free agency is always a thought, and so is the draft. Gothenburg has two first-round picks next draft – its own and St. Petersburg’s – which is why Frolunda fans will spend the season checking two scores every night.

History

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

Season 8 22 66 17.9 77.3 28.57 31.28 2.71 3.67 12.12

Season 7 10 92 20.5 80.9 29.96 29.39 3.45 3.32 10.20

Season 6 7 96 18.2 83.8 29.55 29.02 3.12 2.91 10.63

Season 5 17 80 16.50 82.20 28.93 31.80 2.84 3.16 10.73

Season 4 8 104 18.6 79.4 29.73 29.84 3.56 2.87 8.06

Season 3 11 91 18.9 83.4 28.96 30.91 3.41 3.46 10.98

Season 2 15 86 17.4 84.6 30.12 30.93 3.44 3.50 11.02

Season 1 14 88 17.4 86.6 30.74 28.65 3.26 3.13 7.95

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Adam Henrique, C, current age 29. Games played: 643; points: 644; -45

Season 2: Petr Vrana, LW, age 28. GP 546, Pts 321; -4

Season 3: Beau Bennett, RW, age 27. GP 430, Pts 131; -27

Season 4: none

Season 5: Linus Klasen, LW, age 25. GP 95; Pts 35; Plus/Minus 0

Season 6: Oliver Kylington, D, 21.

Season 7: Kieffer Bellows, LW/C, age 20.

Season 8: Kailer Yamamoto, RW, age 19.

Season 9: Dylan Sikura, C, 20.

Trade History

Season 2

Traded Sam Gagner, 2014 Round 1 pick (traded later) (used to draft Jonathan Drouin) and 2015 Round 2 pick (David Savard) to Stockholm for Eric Staal

* missing one trade, probably in this period.

Season 3

Traded Milan Lucic, 2016 Round 1 pick (Sandro Zurkirchen) and 2017 Round 1 pick (Kevin Hayes) to Minsk for Zach Parise

Traded Devante Smith-Pelly, Ales Hemsky and 2016 Round 2 pick (Alexander Toryanik) to St. Petersburg for Martin St. Louis

Traded 2015 Round 1 pick (Dan Dekeyser) and 2015 Round 3 pick (Alex Tuch) to Milan for Antti Niemi

Season 4

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

Traded Martin St. Louis, Antti Niemi, Erik Johnson, Scott Harrington, Zack Phillips, 2016 Round 3 pick (Andreas Englund), 2017 Round 3 pick (Ivan Trenin) and 2018 Round 1 pick (Jakob Chychrun) to St. Petersburg for Pekka Rinne, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Blake Wheeler

Traded Zach Parise to Lisbon for 2016 Round 1 pick (Linus Klasen)

Traded Ryan Suter and Blake Wheeler to Moscow for Kevin Dallman and 2016 Round 1 pick (Olli Palola)

Traded 2018 Round 3 pick (Trevor Van Riemsdyk) to Moscow for Aleksey Morozov

After Season 5 started

Signed Frazer McLaren (free agent)

Traded 2019 RD 3 pick (Anton Slepyshev) to Copenhagen for Anthony Nigro (formerly named Chris Legge)

Claimed Louis Leblanc (waivers)

Season 6

Traded Patrick Marleau to Munich for Braydon Coburn and 2017 Round 3 pick (Oliver Kylington)

Traded Eric Staal to Stockholm for Mikko Koivu

Season 7

After season started: signed Mike Cammalleri (free agent), signed Pascal Dupuis (free agent)