Conistently Inconsistent

Farm Club: Stockholm Sun Towers

GM: Mikko M (fourth GM in team’s history)

Coach: Mike Johnston (replaced Bob Hartley after Season 4) (Hartley replaced Claude Noel after Season 3)

Last season: 16th overall, (In playoffs, lost to Belfast)

Ins and Outs (Season 9 to Season 10)

Out: Mats Zuccarello (free agent), Joe Pavelski (free agent), Blake Wheeler
(free agent), T.J. Oshie (free agent), Joakim Hillding (free agent), Sakari Salminen (waivers), Michael Bournival (free agent)

In: Alexander Ovechkin (free agent), Wayne Simmonds (free agent), Michael Grabner (free agent), Justin Fontaine (free agent), Ryan Merkley (draft), Veini Vehvilainen (draft) To be updated after free agency

In Place

(Key players signed past Season 10)

Jack Eichel, C; Nikolaj Ehlers, LW; Ryan Johansen, C; Zach Bogosian, D; Olli Maatta, D; Cam Fowler, D

Three Questions

1. Are the Eagles as inconsistent as they seem? Yes. You’re probably asking because you’ve noticed that Stockholm has bounced all over the EURO standings like a Super Ball over the years. If the pattern holds, Stockholm is due for an improvement because last season, they declined, going from 9th to 16th place. But if they happen to defy the pattern and drop in the standings this year, it will be the first time in history the Eagles have gone in the same direction two years in a row. That inconsistency is part general manager changes, part trading, and part contract expirations. This off season, for example, four of the Eagles’ top 5 scorers parted ways with the team (Brayden Schenn came back later) because they couldn’t agree with management to new contracts. Free agents Braden Holtby and defenseman Karl Alzner stayed with the team. General Manager Mikko M had a big decision to make: jettison the 34-to-36-year-olds or try to get them to come back to guide the younger players. Joe Pavelski, Blake Wheeler, Mats Zuccarello, and T.J. Oshie are now gone, taking their combined 33 years of experience with them. So there have been more major changes in Stockholm this off season. But Eagles fans are used to that.

2. Is the goaltending position secure? No, not at all. But maybe yes, definitely. During this off season, seven-year starter Braden Holtby was 30 years old and expecting a new contract. He has been excellent; he knew it and so did his agent. Mikko had to show Holtby the money, and they agreed $7.5 million for three years-plus was enough to keep Holtby in eastern Sweden. If Holtby had walked, the Eagles could have been in the large version of trouble. Backup Louie Domingue has not been good in his three years and there is little evidence to suggest he is capable of stepping into the starting role. But if things go right for Mikko, he could get a real gem of a goalie in mid April. Carter Hart of the NHL Philadelphia Flyers needs about 15 more starts to earn his permanent Websim attributes and he currently has a winning record, a 2.48 goals against average and a .925 save percentage. If the Flyers don’t overwork Hart and he is able to maintain his averages, then Stockholm’s goalie job is secure and of high quality for a decade, assuming they can keep signing Hart.

3. What should opponents look out for when they play Stockholm? Stickhandling is the first thing that jumps out at you when you look over the roster. Jack Eichel and Ryan Johansen love to perform magic with the puck and can be very unpredictable and tricky, and one of them will probably have speedster Nikolaj Ehlers buzzing around the offensive zone distracting defenders and popping into scoring positions. They other gets to feed pucks to shooter extraordinaire Alexender Ovechkin, who will be counted on for goal scoring. Late in the process, after the Free Agent frenzy” stage,
Brayden Schenn re-signed with the team and they lured a similar player in Wayne Simmonds to Sweden, so the top two lines have their right wings. So the modern-day Eagles have a much more balanced look to them than previous versions of the team. In the past, it was offense first … and then offense after that. But the roster now includes forwards who take their defensive responsibilities seriously. Guys like Adam Lowry, Curtis Lazar and Johan Larsson will be underrated, but they could be important parts of the team. And Schenn and Simmonds add a healthy dose of toughness.

History

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

Season 9 16 77 15.9 80.9 30.45 31.11 2.82 3.16 8.18

Season 8 9 91 16.9 84.4 31.23 29.85 2.96 2.99 8.37

Season 7 14 86 17.8 82.5 29.89 31.24 3.10 3.00 8.73

Season 6 8 93 17.6 81.8 29.88 31.88 3.04 3.09 10.46

Season 5 19 74 15.0 75.6 28.6 32.28 2.82 3.59 10.27

Season 4 15 82 16.9 79.1 26.33 32.91 3.04 3.26 10.00

Season 3 24 57 14.5 77.8 25.77 32.01 2.65 3.76 11.02

Season 2 24 49 12.7 80.0 25.37 34.78 2.33 3.93 11.18

Season 1 11 93 21.5 80.4 32.61 30.01 3.48 3.28 9.01

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Cam Ward, G, current age 36. Games played: 459; Save Pct: 89.5

Season 2: Mattias Sjogren, LW, age 27. GP 571, Pts. 167, -10

Season 3: Brendan Gallagher, RW, age 27. GP 561, Pts. 424, -96

Season 4: Olli Maatta, D, age 25. GP 477, Pts. 151, +23

Season 5: Jindrich Barak, D, age 24. GP 153, Pts. 27, -27

Season 6: John Klingberg, D, 26. GP 314, Points 129, +5

Season 7: Louis Domingue, G, age 26. GP 44, Save Pct. 87.3

Season 8: Brady Skjei, D, age 24. GP 162, Pts. 34, +12

Season 9: Joni Ikonen, C/RW, age 20.

Season 10: Ryan Merkley, D, age 18.

Trade History

Seasons 2 and 3

Traded Keaton Ellerby to London for 2014 Round 3 pick (Curtis Lazar)

Traded Ryan Ellis to Gothenburg for Zach Boychuk

Traded Gothenburg’s 2015 Round 2 pick (David Savard) to St. Petersburg for Kevin Bieksa

Traded Mikko Lehtonen and Gothenburg’s 2014 Round 1 pick (Jonathan Drouin) to Belfast for Rick Nash

Traded Jaden Schwartz to Milan for Mike Richards and 2015 Round 2 pick (later traded to Madrid in Rick Nash trade) (Jake Virtanen)

Traded Kyle Okposo and 2014 Round 1 pick (gotten back later in a trade) (used to pick Brendan Gallagher) to Milan for Dustin Brown and 2014 Round 2 pick (Marcus Foligno)

Traded Cam Ward to Athens for Miikka Kiprusoff and Michal Neuvirth

Traded Josef Vasicek to Paris for Derek Brassard, Ryan Ellis and T.J. Brodie

Traded Miko Koivu to Paris for Jaden Schwartz and Stockholm’s previously traded away 2014 Round 1 pick (Brendan Gallagher)

Traded Loui Eriksson to Berlin for Mikko Lehtonen and 2014 Round 1 pick (Madrid’s) (Sean Monahan)

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

Traded Ryan Clowe to Paris for 2014 Round 3 pick (Thomas Hickey)

Traded Mark Giordano and Matthieu Garon to Copenhagen for Jonas Hiller and Darroll Powe

Traded Eric Staal to Gothenburg for Sam Gagner, 2014 Round 1 pick (later traded) (Jonathan Drouin) and 2015 Round 2 pick (later traded in Martin St. Louis trade)(David Savard)

Traded Travis Hamonic to Paris for Dmitri Orlov and 2014 Round 1 pick (Bern’s) (Jake Muzzin)

Traded Thomas Hickey to Milan for Magnus Johansson

Traded Rick Nash and 2015 Round 2 pick (Milan’s) (Jake Virtanen) to Madrid Jeff Carter, Ryan Johansen and 2015 Round 1 pick (later traded) (Tomas Hertl)

Traded Dustin Brown to Moscow for Marcus Johansson and James Van Riemsdyk

Traded Magnus Johansson to Munich for Anton Babchuk

Traded Sam Gagner, Michal Neuvirth and 2015 Round 1 pick (Madrid’s) (later traded) (Tomas Hertl) to London for Braden Holtby

Traded Jordan Caron to Paris for Mike Green

Season 4

Traded Shane Doan, Anton Babchuk and Corey Potter to Bern for Mike Cammalleri and Dalton Prout

Traded 2017 Round 3 pick (later traded) (Calle Jarnkrok) to Minsk for 2015 Round 2 pick (Julius Honka)

Traded 2018 Round 3 pick (Nick Merkley) to Paris for Viktor Fasth

Traded T.J. Brodie to Copenhagen for Colin Greening

Traded Jonas Hiller to Madrid for Tomas Vokoun and 2015 Round 2 pick (Nikita Scherbak)

Season 5

Traded James Van Riemsdyk and Jakub Petruzalek to Dublin for Bobby Ryan

Traded Dmitri Orlov and Jake Muzzin to London for Zach Bogosian

Traded Nikita Scherbak to Helsinki for 2016 Round 2 pick (Connor Bleackley) and 2016 Round 3 pick (Oslo’s) (Ryan Gunderson).

Season 6

Traded Karl Alzner to Bratislava for Luke Adam

Traded Jeff Carter to Copenhagen for Steve Chalmers, 2017 Round 2 pick (Daniel Sprong) and 2017 Round 3 pick (Linden Vey)

Traded Mike Richards to Paris for Mikko Koivu, 2017 Round 2 pick (Mirco Mueller) and 2017 Round 3 pick (Vladislav Namestnikov)

Traded 2019 Round 2 pick (later traded to London and used to pick Martin Necas) to Berlin for Erik Ersberg

Traded Pavel Datsyuk to Helsinki for 2017 Round 3 pick (Johan Larsson)

Traded Marcus Foligno to Lisbon for Adam Lowry

Traded Mikko Koivu to Gothenburg for Eric Staal

Traded Sean Monahan, Craig Smith, Jindrich Barak, Cody Ceci and 2018 Round 1 pick (Alexander Nylander) to Munich for Jack Eichel, Charlie Coyle and 2018 Round 2 pick (Sam Steel)

After Season 6 started:

Traded Marcus Johansson to Prague for Bryan Little

Traded Simon Despres to Bratislava for Mark Pysyk

Traded J.T. Miller and Connor Bleakley to Prague for Tomas Jurco

Season 7

Traded Jeff Carter and 2020 Round 1 pick (Ryan Poehling) to Berlin for David Krejci and 2020 Round 2 pick (Joni Ikonen)

Traded Mattias Sjogren to St. Petersburg for Mats Zuccarello and 2018 Round 2 pick (Louis Domingue)

after season started: Traded Tomas Jurco and Dalton Prout to Copenhagen for Ilya Nikulin and Lars Eller; lost Riley Nash (waivers).

Season 8

Traded Ilya Nikulin to St. Petersburg for Joakim Hillding

Traded 2020 Round 3 pick (Dylan Samberg) to Milan for 2019 Round 3 pick (Carter Hart)

Season 9