With fewer than 20 games to play in Season 10, Paris, Belfast and Berlin seem to be headed for a thrilling battle for the President’s Trophy as the regular season champion – a title that also guarantees home ice advantage throughout the playoffs.
While they scrape for every point, it’s worth noting that even if all three teams win all the rest of their games, they still will look wimpy compared to what the Minsk Hussars, under GM Igor Kirunov and Coach Lindy Ruff did in Season 6. That’s the season Minsk set a league record 144 points with a record of 70-8-4. 144 POINTS!?! If the current leader Paris wins all of its remaining 17 games, the Rouge Eiffels will only have 132 points.
As you could probably guess, the Hussars put together some impressive win streaks that year. After losing to Moscow in the second game of the season, they reeled off 12 straight wins before dropping two games in a row. In December, they were 13-2. And in late January, after Helsinki beat them for the third time in the season, Minsk went on a 13-game win streak.
In the playoffs, Dublin was disposed of quickly and Gothenburg fell in 6 games before the Hussars met Belfast in the conference finals. The Giants were coming off two consecutive Cup wins and were considered Minsk’s toughest challenge during their great season. Minsk looked to be in charge with a 3-0 series lead, but the Giants fought their way to a Game 7 after Evander Kane scored early in overtime of Game 6. In Game 7, it was emphatically Minsk. The Hussars outshot Belfast 41-20 and they had a 4-0 lead going into period 3 of a game that ended 4-2. In the Cup Finals, Paris offered no resistance and bowed out in 4 games.
The team that year featured Nicklas Backstrom centering Milan Lucic and Patrick Kane on the top line, followed by Jordan Staal on the second line with Thomas Powell and Gustav Nyquist on his wings. In the playoffs, five of those six players averaged more than a point per game and Nyquist just missed doing the same. Backstrom led everyone with 33 points and 94 shots in 21 games.
The current Hussars are led in scoring by Swede Jacob Josefson, who was comparatively a baby during the great season. He played, but on the fourth line, scoring just 9 points in 72 games. He must have paid attention on the bench while Backstrom and Staal were skating the major minutes because today, Josefson is one of the top scorers in the league. His 80 points in 65 games place him behind only John Tavares, Matt Duchene, Claude Giroux and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in scoring.
In front of goalie Carey Price during the Hussars’ dream season, Michael Del Zotto, Ryan McDonagh, Maxim Chudinov, Janne Niskala, Kris Russell and Aaron Ekblad were like a well-drilled security force. They allowed a record-low 175 goals that season. (In about a week, it’s likely all 24 teams will have allowed more than that this season). They did so well, that Kirunov made room for all except Niskala in his long-term plan and the remaining five are still starters today.
Unfortunately, the league salary cap ended up spoiling the party. Price and Backstrom left town first; Lucic, Kane and Staal followed a while later, and Minsk isn’t so shiny anymore. After three straight seasons as the best regular season team in the land, Minsk tumbled to 14th place in Season 9, but they seem to be bouncing in the right direction again and they are 8th-best in the league and 4th-best in the Northern Conference. For now at least, the Kharlamov Division and the second seed in the playoffs belongs to the Stockholm Eagles.
Looking ahead to Season 11, the parts of the Minsk machine are getting older, but they seem to still be working. Powell is in his prime but he will have the opportunity to test the free agent market in the off season. The younger Hussars, led by Ekblad and Chudinov, are good enough to give Minsk a solid base for the future. There are six forwards on the roster who are 24 or younger with 79 or better PO ratings. All eyes will be on prospect goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who gets very high marks from scouts and is in the Buffalo Sabres organization. How his first NHL goes could be the key to Minsk’s future.
