Farm Club: Venice (Italy) Griffins 

GM: Dennis Sullo (4th GM in team’s history)

Coach: Mike Sullivan (replaced Craig Berube after Season 9, Berube replaced Peter Laviolette after Season 8) (Laviolette replaced Paul MacLean after Season 4)

Last season: 17th overall; out of playoffs

Ins and Outs (Season 9 to Season 10)

Out: Jamie McBain (free agent), Derek Forbort (free agent), Nathan Beaulieu (free agent), Phillip Danault (free agent)

In: Daniel Fernholm (free agent), T.J. Brodie (free agent), Lawson Crouse (waivers), Mikhail Grigorenko (waivers), Quinn Hughes (draft), Barrett Hayton (draft), Victor Mete (draft)

In Place (Key players signed past Season 10)

Carey Price, G;  Jacob Trouba, D;  Tyson Barrie, D; Charlie McAvoy, D; Alexander Polunin, RW; Brayden Point, C

Three Questions

1 – Are the Lions bouncing back from the basement? Season 8 was a terrible one for Zurich. They didn’t like finishing 24th. At all. The next year (Season 9), the Lions improved by 13 points and 7 places in the standings. Coaxing Carey Price from Minsk with $30 million during free agency had to be a large reason for the improvement, but not the only one. Zurich’s goals per game average went up and its goals against average went down, so those were great signs. But it is disturbing that the team took fewer shots last season while giving up more shots than it did in its worst season. Price earned his pay for sure, and John Gibson showed marked improvement as a 24-year-old goalie, so there are no goaltending worries in Zurich. But the shots against average is something the coaching staff needs to focus on.

2. Who will play defense for Zurich? Coming into the off season, the Zurich roster listed 14 defensemen competing for 6 spots in the lineup, but that included unrestricted agent Jamie McBain, 32, who disappointed a little in his first year with the team after a couple of solid seasons in Bern and many in London. In addition to the 14 on the roster, 3 prospect defensemen including Quinn Hughes are awaiting their Websim attributes. Three defensemen were given their walking papers by GM Dennis Sullo, but two veteran blueliners joined the team as free agents – Daniel Fernholm and T.J. Brodie. Given all the players to choose from, whatever qualities the coaches want back there, they should be able to find. Want some big dude to clear the crease? Fernholm and Connor Murphy can take care of that for you. Need speed? Tyson Barrie, Jacob Trouba and Max Noreau can really motor. Charles McAvoy is very active and has great hockey sense, and Adam Pelech can provide a big body and a big slapshot. Then there are a half-dozen others who are more balanced but perhaps not of EURO quality at the moment. One clear area of deficiency was experience – only McBain provided that last season for the Lions’ defense – but the addition of Fernholm and Brodie adds two guys with a decent amount of experience.

3. What will the forward lines look like this year? Just like last year’s lines, but a little more experienced. Zurich went into free agency with 18 of 19 forwards under contract (defensive center Phillip Danault was a restricted free agent and went unsigned). It will be interesting to see the competition for jobs among team members in Zurich. Jakub Voracek is the established top RW on the team, but 22-year-old Alexander Polunin seems ready to explode with an 80-point season. Patrice Bergeron has always played monster minutes for the franchise, but he’s 35 this year. Will Ryan Strome or Brayden Point eat into Number 37’s minutes? And on the left side, Tomas Tatar leads a gang of 6 relatively comparable wingers. Perhaps the coaching staff will experiment with position changes in order to get Voracek and Polunin out there together; or maybe a quality free agent will find his way into the Zurich lineup, but whatever happens GM Dennis Sullo knows what he has available up front.

History

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

Season 9             17       73        17.7 81.7 25.90 33.10 2.66 3.43 8.23

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 35. GP 714, Pts 723, -154

Season 2: Alexander Radulov, RW, age 28. GP 614, Pts 528, -48

Season 3: Tyson Barrie, D, age 28.  GP 462,  Pts 197,  -40

Season 4: Tomas Tatar, LW, age 29.  GP 489,  Pts 282,  -84

Season 5: Alexander Weiss, D, age 27.  GP 294,  Pts 94,  -49

Season 6: John Gibson, G, age 25. GP 83, Save Percentage 89.1

Season 7: Anthony Duclair, RW, age 23. GP 129, Pts 39, -3

Season 8: Brayden Point, C, age 22.  GP  153, Pts 66, -41

Season 9: Alexander Polunin, RW, age 22. GP 82, Pts 42, -31

Season 10: Quinn Hughes, D, age 19.

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

Traded Charlie Coyle and Mark Pysyk to Bern for Jamie McBain

Traded T.J. Oshie to Stockhom for 2022 Round 2 pick

Traded Alexander Weiss and a 2021 Round 3 pick to Bratislava for a 2021 Round 1 pick (Barrett Hayton)

Season 10