Team Owner: C. Montgomery Burns, owner, Springfield Nuclear Power Plant
Farm Club: Tottenham Templars
GM: Eric Smith (5th GM in team’s history)
Coach: Barry Trotz (replaced Darryl Sutter after Season 7, who replaced Ken Hitchcock after Season 6)
Last season: 8th overall; In playoffs, defeated Copenhagen, defeated St. Petersburg, lost to Belfast.
Ins and Outs
(Season 9 to Season 10)
Out: Jake Gardiner (free agent), Olivier Roland (free agent), Janne Niskala (free agent), Brad Richards (retired)
In: Ben Harpur (free agent), Casey Nelson (free agent), Auguste Impose (free agent), Andre Benoit (free agent), Will Butcher (draft), Jet Woo (draft)
In Place
(Key players signed past Season 10)
Taylor Hall, RW; Jeff Skinner, C; Brandon Saad, LW; William Nylander, C; Martin Jones, G;
Three Questions
1.Why do Londoners seem so upbeat? England doesn’t have a stable government any more, its economy is quivering, Wayne Rooney is old … what is there to be happy about? The Ice Lords, that’s what. London soared up the standings in Season 9, jumping from 21st to 9th place and improving from 67 to 97 points in a season. London, always an offense-first team, never took as many shots on goal as they did last season (31.23 per game), nor had it ever scored as many goals as it did last season (3.68 per game). Jake Gardiner and Olivier Roland are the only significant parts of the offense who are not there any more in Season 10, but Jason Zucker has been waiting for his chance at more ice time and he should get it this season. Top draft pick Will Butcher should rev up the offense and it looks like he will start the season on the third pairing with new Ice Lord Andre Benoit, whose salary is probably the only reason he will make his league debut at age 35.
2. Are the forwards fairly offensive-minded? OMG! Where do you buy tickets for Ice Lords games? There is so much offensive talent among the forwards that Coach Barry Trotz could practically put all the names into a hat, blindfold himself, and pull out an oustanding top line. If you have a checking line that you like to match up against the other team’s most dangerous line, then you are about 3 checking lines short of stalling the Ice Lord offense. The centers are led by Jeff Skinner and Dominik Lakatos, with dangerous William Nylander and Jake Guentzel relegated to the bottom two lines. Taylor Hall, Phil Kessel, Brandon Saad, Artemy Panarin, Jason Zucker … yeah, you’ll see them all when you play London. Nikita Kucherov has to be the most famous fourth-liner in the league. The group might be missing some size and grittiness, which gives third-liner Martin Ruzicka a little more value to the team, but if you ever thought of putting together a high-energy, speedy, skilled set of forwards, London is your model.
3. Will they be able to stop pucks from going in the London net? Martin Jones gets the starting nod in goal for the Ice Lords and he seems to be at or near the apex of his ability. Although his rookie season with London was his best so far, the next 4 seasons show an upward trend. Last season, he won 37 games with a 2.82 goals against average and a 90.7 save percentage, Compared to some recent signings of goalies, Jones’ 3 years at $7 million per season deal with a team option seems like a bargain. But the key to his success will be in the six defensemen in front of them. With the forwards applying so much pressure at the other end, they have to be good at staying home and limiting odd-man rushes. And they have to be good at tying up sticks and moving bodies in front of Jones. That last part is London’s Achilles’ heel. Luca Sbisa and Rasmus Ristolainen are the only London blueliners who have the physical strength to keep opponents from having their way in the London zone. They have guys who can skate and move the puck – we just said Justin Schultz without saying his name – but the group is lacking when it comes to defensive proficiency and physicality. Another issue, as mentioned, is the salary cap that will keep Ryan Ellis and Jon Merrill in the press box and farm club when they could be useful in the starting 6 defense.
History
Season Place PTS PP % PK % SPG SAPG GPG GAPG PIM
Season 9 8 97 18.6 83.1 31.23 29.89 3.68 3.18 7.18
Season 8 21 67 16.2 81.7 26.34 31.51 2.89 3.59 6.06
Season 7 23 62 13.5 81.0 27.48 32.38 2.60 3.66 7.59
Season 6 11 89 20.2 81.0 28.93 31.40 3.33 3.33 8.35
Season 5 10 93 16.6 79.4 28.82 30.26 3.26 3.00 7.99
Season 4 16 81 16.2 81.5 29.68 31.62 3.12 3.40 8.61
Season 3 21 75 16.3 75.7 30.24 30.94 3.09 3.51 11.10
Season 2 23 56 16.2 77.2 26.96 34.29 2.66 3.84 11.24
Season 1 15 88 14.9 83.5 30.79 29.77 3.07 3.13 10.79
Top Draft picks
Season 1: Marc-Andre Fleury, G, current age 36. Games played: 523; Save Pct: 89.6
Season 2: Jimmie Ericsson, LW, age 27. GP 417, Pts 172, -26
Season 3: Braden Holtby, G, age 30. GP 457, Save pct: 90.5
Season 4: Martin Jones, G, age 29. GP 311, Save Pct. 90.3
Season 5: Artemy Panarin, RW, age 29. GP 350, Pts 160, +35
Season 6: Anders Lee, LW, age 28. GP 259, Points 100, -8
Season 7: Ryan Spooner, C, age 26. GP 199, Points 59, -39
Season 8: Jake Guentzel, LW, age 24. GP 154, Pts 55, +26
Season 9: Dominik Lakatos, RW, age 19. GP 80, Pts 82, -13
Season 10: Will Butcher, D, age 22.
Trade History
Season 2
Traded Semyon Varmalov to Berlin for Andrey Bykov, Tim Erixon and 2014 Round 2 pick (Robert Hagg)
Traded 2016 Round 3 pick to Minsk for Tobias Stephan
Traded Tobias Stephan to Minsk for 2016 Round 3 pick
* missing two trades, one which sent Bykov to Oslo.
Season 3
Traded Tyler Seguin and Luca Sbisa to Oslo for Pavel Datsyuk and Shea Weber
Traded Braden Holtby to Stockholm for Sam Gagner, Michal Neuvirth and 2015 Round 1 pick (Nikita Kucherov)
Traded Shea Weber to Copenhagen for Kevin Shattenkirk, Teddy Purcell and Carl Gunnarsson
Season 4
Traded Zach Bogosian to Stockholm for Dmitri Orlov and Jake Muzzin
Season 5
Season 6
After Season 6 started:
Traded Erik Forssell and 2018 Round 3 pick (Adam Mascherin) to Berlin for 2018 Round 2 pick (Bern’s – Joonas Donskoi) and 2019 Round 2 pick (Stockholm’s) (Martin Necas)
Season 7
After season started: Traded 2019 Round 2 pick (Klim Kostin) to Berlin for Dion Phaneuf; signed Theo Peckham (free agent), Justin Braun (free agent), lost Ryan Spooner (waivers), lost Joonas Donskoi (waivers)
Season 8
Traded Dion Phaneuf and Michael Grabner to Lisbon for Damon Severson and 2021 Round 3 pick (Jet Woo)
After Season 8 started:
Claimed Jordan Caron (waivers)
Season 9
Traded 2021 Round 3 pick to Berlin for 2020 Round 3 pick (Eduard Zakharchenko)
Traded Jimmie Ericsson, Damon Severson and 2021 Round 2 pick (Jared McIsaac) to Prague for Justin Schultz and Martin Ruzicka
Season 10
