Team owner: Sergei Smirnov, former director of JSC Proletarsky Zavod

Farm Club: Sibir Novosibirsk (Russia)

GM: Ben Stuller (3rd GM in team’s history)

Coach: John Stevens (replaced Guy Boucher after Season 8, who replaced Paul Maurice after Season 6, who replaced Kevin Dineen after Season 4)

Last season: 5th overall, (In playoffs, defeated Moscow, lost to London)

Ins and Outs

(Season 9 to Season 10)

Out: Simeon Varlamov (free agent), Marcus Foligno (bought out), Viktor Stalberg (free agent), Yannick Weber (free agent)

In: Kevin Shattenkirk (free agent), Corey Perry (free agent), Paul Stastny (free agent), Henrik Lundquist (free agent), Marc-Andre Fleury (free agent), Anton Khudobin (waivers), Nick Holden (free agent), Lance Bouma (free agent), Blake Coleman (draft), Rasmus Kupari (draft), Emil Bemstrom (draft), Drake Batherson (draft)

In Place

(Key players signed past Season 10)

Patrik Laine, LW; Sergei Mozyakin, C; Vladimir Tarasenko, RW; Juuse Saros, G; Kevin Shattenkirk, D; John Carlson, D; Dmitry Orlov, D

Three Questions

1. Is this team is good enough to win the Cup? Yes. People in St. Petersburg are anxious for the season to get under way because they think they have a legitimate shot at the 10th Cup in EURO League history. Their team was one of the most improved teams in the league in Season 9, so optimism is easy to find along Nevsky Prospyekt and other streets in the city. The Krasnyye Zvezdy (Red Stars) came close to winning it all in the first two seasons of the league’s existence, but since then the only big win in St. Petersburg was the 2016 U.S. Presidential election. So what does Petrograd – the team – have to offer? Why should we think they can go all the way? Start with the defense and three excellent all-around players back there in John Carlson, Dmitry Orlov and Kevin Shattenkirk, who signed for $6.6 million this off season after playing in Bern last year. Those are three amazing assets and none of the bottom three defensemen can be considered filler. Ilya Nikulin, Philip Larsen and Marc-Andre Bourdon have built themselves respectable EURO careers and none is a wink link. Up front, Sergei Mozyakin bears the brunt of the offensive expectations along with wingers Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrik Laine. Beneath them, Stuller has managed to squeeze in talent everywhere except the left wing on the fourth line. One attribute that keeps popping up among the forwards is experience. Ryan Callahan, Loui Eriksson, Corey Perry, Paul Stastny, Sam Gagner, Ryan Getzlaf and Dave Bolland all have 100s in that column, and although not all of them will play this season, it’s like having a bank of coaches with skates on. If we have one worry about the Zvezdy it’s that their forwards think offense much more than they think defense. But that’s nit-picking. Scoring more than 3.5 goals per game will cure a lot of things. Another problem will be the salary cap. It’s staring General Manager Ben Stuller in the face like Hannibal Lecter stared at Clarisse in “Silence of the Lambs.”

2. What do SP fans think of Patrick Kane? Krasnyye Zvesdy fans feel like they got “Bern”ed by Kane this off season. Stuller took a chance and obtained the negotiating rights for the slick American by trading a draft pick to Minsk. The image of Patrick Kane and Patrik Laine – a great passer and a great shooter – playing on the same line was exhilarating for local fans, but in the end, Kane agreed on a big-money deal with Bern and Petrograd ended up empty-handed. So fans of the Krasnyye Zvezdy are angry at Kane and the safe bet is they will loudly let him know that on Jan. 28, when Bern comes to Russia to play St. Petersburg. The Interrail will return in late March, but the fans will probably have forgotten all about Kane by then as their team pushes toward the top of the standings. Between now and then, Laine will have someone else passing him pucks as he tries to improve upon the 38 goals he scored in Year 2 of his EURO career.

3. How do they look in goal? When Stuller announced during the off season that he was relieving goalie Simeon Varlamov of his duties and entrusting Juuse Saros with the starting job, eyes widened in the city, eyebrows raised across Europe and Saros started shaking. The Finnish kid only played in 18 games last season, 30 the year before and he doesn’t have a winning record in his tiny career. He also only saved 84.7 of the shots on his net last season, which isn’t good. Varlamov took his blocker and mask and moved 800 kilmeters south to make $10.4 million annually playing for another Kharlamov Division team. Stuller knew Varly would be costly to retain and that his salary would not allow for a stronger lineup up and down the roster. So Saros … kid … do better. Stuller he has publicly thrown around the idea of packaging a current starter or more in a trade for a goalie and/or draft picks, but later signed 36-year-old Marc-Andre Fleury to back up Saros.

History

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

Season 9             5             101            17.4      84.1        31.40      26.89       3.48      2.84       9.30

Season 8             15             81            20.5      77.6         28.39      32.51       3.21      3.57       12.05

Season 7             17             73            18.9      81.8        30.66       30.04       3.00      3.56      10.37

Season 6             22             65            16.9       79.2        31.18      28.32        2.85     3.62       11.83

Season 5             12              85            17.3       82.4         30.27    29.70       3.10      3.22       11.10

Season 4              23             57          14.20      85.60      30.07    30.96       2.52       3.46       12.02

Season 3              12               89          16.8        82.8        30.6     29.72       3.16       3.29       12.60

Season 2              2             106         17.1        84.9        32.87      29.78      3.29        2.65       10.95

Season 1              3             118         20.5        83.7        32.41     27.82        3.60        2.44        9.05

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Pekka Rinne, G, current age 38. Games played: 570; Save Pct. 90.3

Season 2: Danis Zaripov, LW, age 28. GP 263, Pts 61, +27

Season 3: Cam Atkinson, RW, age 30. GP 515, Pts 194, -38

Season 4: Mats Zuccarello, LW, age 32.  GP 481,  Pts 253, +3

Season 5: Jan Kovar, LW, age 28. GP 401, Pts 290, -55

Season 6: Tobias Rieder, RW, age 25. GP 238,  Points 41, +15

Season 7: Patrik Laine, W, age 21. GP 168, Points 134, -53

Season 8: Juuse Saros, G, age 23.  GP 48, Save Pct. 87.5

Season 9: Morgan Frost, C, age 19.

Season 10: Rasmus Kupari, C, age 18.

Trade History

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

Traded Round 6 pick (used to draft Patrik Berglund) and 2013 Round 1 pick (Thomas Powell) to Minsk for Round 4 pick (used to draft Brent Burns)

Traded Patrick Kane to Zurich for Brad Richards

Traded Round 18 pick (Brandon Gormley) to Milan for Round 20 pick (Jonathan Bernier) and Round 22 pick (Jakub Kindl)

Traded James Neal, Andrei Kostitsyn and Karl Alzner to Edinburgh for Marc-Eduoard Vlasic, Blake Wheeler and Artem Anisimov

Traded Daniel Alfredsson to Milan for Viktor Stalberg, 2104 Round 1 (Cam Atkinson) and $1 million

Traded Kyle Wellwood to Edinburgh for David Steckel and 2013 Round 3 (Jamie Oleksiak)

Season 2

Traded Jarome Iginla to Helsinki for Martin St. Louis and 2015 Round 3 pick (Jakub Vrana)

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

Traded Kevin Bieksa to Stockholm for Gotherburg’s 2015 Round 2 pick (David Savard)

Season 3

Season 4

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

Season 5

Season 6

After Season 6 started: Traded Stefan Ulmer to Berlin for 2019 Round 2 pick (traded back to Berlin later; used to pick Filip Hronek)

Season 7

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

Traded Mats Zuccarello-Aasen and a 2018 Round 2 pick (Louis Domingue) to Stockholm for Mattias Sjogren

Traded Artem Anisimov, Brad Richards and 2019 Round 3 pick (Matt Benning) to Zurich for Ilya Kovalchuk

Traded Wayne Simmonds and Berlin’s 2019 Round 2 pick (later traded to Berlin and used to pick Filip Hronek) to Lisbon for Marcus Foligno, Darnell Nurse and a 2019 Round 3 pick (Tyler Parsons)

Traded Brent Burns to Bratislava for Karl Alzner and Anthony Mantha

after season started; Traded Karl Alzner to Moscow for Travis Sanheim; claimed Chris Tanev (waivers)

Season 8

Traded Joakim Hillding to Stockholm for Ilya Nikulin

Traded Jonathan Huberdeau, Tobias Rieder and Jakob Chychrun to Belfast for Sergei Mozyakin and Vladimir Tarasenko

Traded Kari Lehtonen and Anthony Mantha to Oslo for Semyon Varlamov

Traded 2021 Round 3 pick (later reacquired from Berlin in the Jan Kovar trade, then traded to Gothenburg for a 2022 Round 3 pick (Jan Drozg)) to Berlin for Roman Polak

Season 9

Traded Oscar Klefbom, Kevin Fiala and 2021 Round 1 pick (Oliver Wahlstrom) to Gothenburg  for John Carlson and 2021 Round 3 pick (Drake Batherson)

Traded 2020 Round 3 pick (Rhett Gardner) to Bratislava for 2021 Round 3 pick (Blake Coleman)

Traded Brent Burns to Copenhagen for Jacob De La Rose and 2021 Round 3 pick (later traded to Minsk (Philipp Kurashev)

Traded Jan Kovar to Berlin for 2021 Round 1 pick (Rasmus Kuperi) and 2021 Round 3 pick (St. Petersburg’s originally; later traded to Gothenburg and used to pick Jan Drozg)

Season 10

Traded Darnell Nurse and Cam Atkinson to Bern for Dmitry Orlov

Traded 2021 Round 3 pick (Jan Drozg) to Gothenburg for 2022 Round 3 pick

Traded 2021 Round 3 pick (Copenhagen’s originally – Philipp Kurashev) to Minsk for the rights to Patrick Kane (did not sign with St. Petersburg)