Season 9: Bratislava Eagles

pro Bratislava

Team owner: Juraj Dluhy, CEO, Cestné a Stavebné Mechanizmy Tisovec (a military equipment manufacturer in Detva, Slovakia.)

Farm club: Vienna (Austria) Capitals Vienna Caps

GM: Chuck Massaro (only GM in team’s history)

Coach: Lindy Ruff (replaced Brent Sutter after Season 6, who replaced Bruce Boudreau after Season 3)

Last season: 3rd overall (In playoffs, defeated Paris, then Berlin, then Lisbon, then lost to Minsk in the finals)

Ins and Outs (Season 7 to Season 8)

Out: Tyler Ennis (free agent), Martin Hanzal (free agent), Philip Larsen (free agent), Mark Barberio (free agent), Richard Panik (free agent), Marcel Hossa (free agent), Scott Hartnell (free agent), Chris Butler (free agent),

In: Ryan Suter (free agent), Alexander Semin (free agent), Matt Irwin (free agent), Marco Scandella (free agent), Pavel Razvadovsky (free agent), Michael Kristof (draft), Charles Williams (draft), Rhett Gardner (draft), Joakim Nygard (draft)

In Place

(Key players signed past Season 9)

Milan Gulas, C; Tyler Toffoli, RW; Michael Stone, D; Alexander Weiss, D; Connor Hellebuyck, G

Three Questions

1. How will this team handle coming so closing and missing? After battling past three tough customers in the playoffs in Paris, Berlin and Lisbon, the Eagles won the first game of the Finals in Minsk. That was a surprise. They let a 2-1 lead in Game 2 turn into a 3-2 loss, but two games later, they were on the verge of stealing the Cup, up 3-1 with 3 games to play. Bratislava had a chance to win it on home ice in Game 6, but Carey Price stoned them and it was the bitter meat in a three-loss sandwich. Bratislava has now finished 3rd overall in the standings the last two seasons. Expectations are high and team leaders Jonathan Toews and Alexander Ovechkin both exercised player options to give it another try. The Eagles lured veterans Ryan Suter and Alexander Semin to Slovakia and then they traded away a first-round pick for defenseman Alexander Weiss to help move the puck up to the forwards. Coach Lindy Ruff, who won a Cup with Minsk, was not a happy man when the Finals ended. He is sticking with the same playing style that brought him success the last two seasons.

2. Does goalie Marc-Andre Fleury have what it takes? Fleury compiled save percentages of 90.1 and 90.4 the last two seasons and he took the team deep into the playoffs both seasons. He has logged a lot of games in his 35-year-old body and is showing faint signs of decay. But this season, the six guys in front of him are better, so the Eagles should be alright. Ryan Suter and Alexander Weiss should be upgrades over Philip Larsen and Mark Barberio, who had their spots last year, and Best Defenseman trophy winner Tyler Myers is 29 and in his prime. Myers has scored more than 20 goals three times in his career and compiled more than 50 points four times. He has also been among the top players in hits most of his career. Michael Stone and Josh Gorges are key defensive defensemen and penalty killers, but both are injury worries. Should all six staty relatively healthy, the defense corps is definitely Bratislava’s strongpoint.

3. Will the loss of Tyler Ennis mean the team is done? Ennis has proven he’s all about the money. Before the start of Season 8, as a Type 2 player, he did not accept two offers and took the team to arbitration. Before this season, he turned down a $5.25 million deal and left for free agency and eventually a $6 million deal with the Smurfs. He was a key part of the Bratislava team, scoring at least 20 goals and 53 points for 8 seasons, and he’s a much better defensive player than he gets credit for. It will fall upon Tyler Toffoli to replace Ennis in the Eagles lineup and Ruff thinks he’ll do a great job with stars Jonathan Toews and Alexander Ovechkin. Another line Ruff feels good about is a checking line of Zemgus Girgensons, first-year player Morten Madsen and hustler Kristian Kuusela. The key to the season for Bratislava might be the performance of its second line of reliable Czech Milan Gulas (60 points for the last three seasons), aging former Paris star Alexander Semin and clever Belarusian Evgeny Solomonov, he put together a 52-point debut last season as a third-liner.

History

BRATISVALA DIVISION 2019 BRATISLAVA CONFERENCE 2020

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

Season 8 3 115 20.7 82.8 32.37 26.71 3.67 2.74 7.12

Season 7 3 114 23.7 84.8 34.71 24.73 3.66 2.63 8.32

Season 6 13 88 17.9 81.5 30.70 27.52 3.20 3.13 9.20

Season 5 9 95 16.7 83.2 31.48 27.62 3.33 3.11 8.54

Season 4 11 93 17.3 77.1 33.94 27.01 3.71 3.50 11.93

Season 3 11 91 15.4 83.8 30.82 26.94 3.51 3.35 11.12

Season 2 6 101 18.3 82.7 31.43 26.76 3.57 3.28 11.67

Season 1 8 95 16.4 81.0 30.17 29.01 3.45 3.22 9.22

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Jonathan Toews, C, current age 31. Games played: 621; points: 740; +112

Season 2: Milan Gulas, C, age 31. GP 542, Pts 347, +92

Season 3: Michael Stone, D, age 28. GP 337, Pts 102, +69

Season 4: Zemgus Girgensens, C, age 24. GP 253, Pts 92, +33

Season 5: Morten Madsen, C, age 26. GP 12, Pts 3, -4

Season 6: Dylan Strome, C, age 21.

Season 7: Connor Hellebuyck, G, age 24. GP 27, save pct. 89.4

Season 8: Mike Matheson, D, age 23. GP 76, Pts 17, +5

Season 9: Michal Kristof, C, age 22.

Trade History

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

Traded Round 5 pick (used to draft Kimo Timonen) to Bern for Round 8 pick (Martin Erat) 2013 Round 1 (Weiyang Zhang) and 2013 Round 2 pick (Leonardo Genoni)

Traded Round 8 pick (David Desharnais) and Round 19 pick (Greg Zanon) to Geneva for Round 17 pick (Tomas Kopecky) and 2014 Round 1 pick (Michael Stone)

Traded 2013 Round 2 pick (Oleg Podyedonostsev) to Milan for Round 20 pick (David Steckel)

Traded David Steckel to Edinburgh for Round 21 pick (David Moss)

Season 2

Traded Lee Stempniak and 2014 Rd 3 (Steve Olesky) to Paris for Philip Larsen

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Traded 2016 Round 1 pick (Bud Holloway) to Geneva for Chris Kunitz and 2016 Round 1 pick (later traded to Copenhagen – Simon Hjalmarsson)

Traded 2016 Round 1 pick (Geneva’s) (Simon Hjalmarsson) to Copenhagen for Matt Frattin and 2016 Round 1 pick (Morten Madsen)

Traded 2017 Round 3 pick (Julius Nattinen) to Belfast for 2016 Round 3 pick (Evgeny Solomonov)

Traded 2017 Round 2 (Daniel Sprong) pick to Copenhagen for Troy Brouwer

After Season 5 started