Farm Club: Bergen (Norway) Bandits 

GM: Chris Lee (3rd GM in team’s history)

Coach: Peter Laviolette (replaced Dave Cameron, who replaced Dave Hakstol after 1 game of Season 8. Hakstol replaced Claude Julien after Season 6, who replaced Peter Laviolette after Season 3)

Last season: 20th overall, out of the playoffs

Ins and Outs

(Season 9 to Season 10)

Out: Ben Bishop (free agent), Eric Gelinas (free agent), Robert Rooba (free agent),

In: Eddie Lack (free agent), Ty Smith (draft), J.T. Compher (draft), Chandler Stephenson (draft)

In Place

(Key players signed past Season 10)

Tyler Seguin, C; Connor McDavid, C; Matt Murray, G; Viktor Antipin, D; Zach Werenski, D; Shayne Gostisbehere, D

Three Questions

Do the stats show many promising signs? Everyone knows by now that Oslo has an enviable stable of young defensemen, but here are a few facts that show the offense is starting to come together: The rate at which the Outlaws are scoring powerplay goals increased last year by 2 percentage points to a team record 19.9 percent. And goals in general were up in Season 9 to the highest level since Season 3. Connor McDavid wasn’t the highest-scoring player on the team – Tyler Seguin was again – but McDavid improved his productivity big time and he deserves the most credit for the team’s improvement in offense. McDavid played 19 minutes per game and increased his goal production from 24 to 37 last year and his shooting percentage went way up in that time. He was solid defensively and as Oslo improves as a team, McDavid will blossom into the superstar everyone expects him to become.

Is Olso’s defense corps –  NO NEED to finish that question! The answer is yes! We love them! If Shayne Gostisbehere, Viktor Antipin, Zach Werenski, Morgan Rielly, Jacob Moverare and Calvin De Haan were pies … no cars, if they were cars, we would drive each one of them every day. We would take Moverare to breakfast and then have him buffed and waxed and then we’d remote start Rielly and take him the gym … oh heck, you get the picture. We love the defensemen GM Chris Lee has collected. They all have speed and puck handling ability and a few of them are basically specialists at different parts of the game. Werenski, a second-round pick in Season 6 has developed into the best all-around guy of the bunch, but Anitpin is the best shot blocker – in the league. He has finished in the league’s top 4 in blocked shots in each of the last four seasons. The number 7 and 8 guys – Andrej Sekera and Brayden McNabb – are good enough to play in the EURO, but they’ll probably spend most of this season with the Bergen Bandits farm club. This defensive group didn’t have a good year last season, but how can they NOT improve?

Will patience pay off in Norway? Oslo seems to have all the parts in place for a big move up the standings. Actually, we’re surprised they only gained 3 spots last season. But when you have two superb centers, a good goalie in Matt Murray and that defense, you’re really ready to go. Are the wings the reason the team hasn’t soared yet? Those in the Outlaws Fan Club will be paying close attention to the work done by four men in particular: the wingers on the top two lines. The duties of Tomas Hertl, Zach Parise, Anthony Mantha and Devante Smith-Pelly aren’t easy but they could simplify things by concentrating on a three-step process: Back check smartly, get the puck to Tyler Seguin or Connor McDavid, and then get open for the return pass. Hertl and Parise have the stamina to play top minutes and with the man advantage, but Coach Peter Laviolette should keep an eye on Mantha and Smith-Pelly, who will also be asked to penalty kill. Watch for heavy breathing and red faces, coach, and think about giving them a rest occasionally. And speaking of special teams, McDavid, Hertl, Werenski and Gostisbehere are currently penciled in on both PP units. We hope they stayed in shape over the summer.

History

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

Season 8            20         69      19.9      76.2    25.85     34.98     3.00     3.80 6.70

Season 8            23         60      17.7      75.1     25.28     34.43      2.49      3.67  6.34

Season 7              20         67    17.6      80.9    25.00      35.32      2.65     3.54   7.65

Season 6             24        54     17.5      78.3      25.51      35.61     2.50     3.90   8.54

Season 5              24       41    10.9       78.5     23.34      34.59    2.22   3.83   8.71

Season 4              24         47    17.9     72.3   25.56    35.09   2.50     4.05   11.59

Season 3              21          75    16.2    83.4    27.82    33.43   3.07    3.66    12.21

Season 2              13         91  19.0    84.1    29.43    29.89    3.43    3.13    14.78

Season 1              10          93   17.6    80.8    31.83    29.71    3.66    3.35    10.80

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Shea Weber, D, current age 35. Games played: 711; points: 446; +164

Season 2: Fredrik Norrena, G, age 40. GP 71, Save Pct. 88.8 (retired)

Season 3: Elias Lindholm, C, age 26. GP 226, Pts 61, -22

Season 4: Tomas Hertl, LW, age 26. GP 435, Pts 271, -122

Season 5: Viktor Antipin, D, age 23. GP 410, Pts 78, -171

Season 6: Connor McDavid, C, 22. GP 260, Points 238, -73

Season 7: Shayne Gostisbehere, D, age 25. GP 235, Points 113,  -88

Season 8: Matt Murray, G, age 24. GP 134, Save Pct. 89.8

Season 9: Jacob Moverare, D, age 21. GP 50, Pts 8, -7 

Season 10: Ty Smith, D, age 18.

Trade History

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

Traded Round 5 pick (used to draft Andrew Ladd) and Round 7 pick (Alex Goligoski) to Copenhagen for Round 3 pick (Jimmy Howard)

Traded Round 4 pick (Radim Vrbata) and Round 6 pick (Johan Franzen) to Bern for Daniel Sedin and Round 12 pick (Max Talbot)

Traded Round 17 pick (Zac Rinaldo) and 2013 Round 1 pick (Alex Galchenyuk) to Minsk for Round 8 pick

Traded Round 8 pick (Andrej Meszaros) and Round 12 pick (Boyd Gordon) to Copenhagen for Alexandre Burrows

Traded Justin Williams to Geneva for Matt D’Agostini, 2014 Round 2 pick (Andrei Loktionov) and $250,000

Traded 2014 Round 3 pick (Samuel Morin) to Milan for Dustin Penner

Season 2

Traded Thomas Vanek to Prague for P-A Parenteau

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

Season 3

Traded Jimmy Howard to Berlin for Semyon Varlamov and Jarkko Immonen

Traded Pavel Datsyuk and Shea Weber to London for Tyler Seguin and Luca Sbisa

Traded Ryan Suter to Gothenburg for Morgan Rielly, Eric Gelinas and 2017 Round 2 pick (Brayden McNabb)

Season 4

Traded 2016 Round 3 pick (traded later to Stockholm – Ryan Gunderson) to Helsinki for Wojtek Wolski

Season 5

Season 6

After Season 6 started: Signed Devan Dubnyk (free agent)

Season 7 

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

Season 8

Traded Semyon Varlamov to St. Petersburg for Kari Lehtonen and Anthony Mantha

Season 9

Season 10