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: 15th overall, (In playoffs, lost to Belfast)

Ins and Outs

(Season 10 to Season 11)

Out: Henrik Lundquist (free agent), Ryan Getzlaf (free agent), Loui Eriksson (free agent), Ryan Callahan (free agent), Ilya Nikulin (free agent), Anton Khudobin (free agent), Blake Coleman (free agent), Lance Bouma (free agent), Jiri Sekac (free agent), Riley Nash (free agent), Scott Harrington (free agent), David Desharnais (free agent), Dave Bolland (free agent).

In: Ilya Kovalchuk (free agent); Denis Gribko (free agent), Roman Starchenko (free agent), Dylan Cozens (draft), Tobias Bjornfot (draft), Victor Soderstrom (draft), Martin Fehervary (draft), Simon Holmstrom (draft)

In Place

(Key players signed past Season 11)

Patrik Laine, LW; Vladimir Tarasenko, RW; Juuse Saros, G; Kevin Shattenkirk, D; Dmitry Orlov, D

Three Questions

1. Is there a money-printing factory in Russia? It sure seems like there is. With the start of Season 11 coming soon, Moscow was sitting on a $18.7 million cushion under its owner’s budget. Their countrymen in Petrograd had even more cash to play with. The Krasnyye Zvezdy were $19.2 million under their owner’s budget. Thirteen expired free agents were allowed to leave in the off season. That will drop your total payroll in a hurry. The Zvezdy will surely make some moves before the season starts. In fact, they have to. They only have 11 forwards. They could easily fill the roster with free agents, but they could also trade for better assets. What’s the chance of seeing opposing GMs shopping in Russia this week – especially the ones from cap-fat Belfast, Lisbon and Paris? Very good. What low-cost, high potential assets do they have to trade? Patrik Laine, 22, could fetch a king’s ransom. He has scored 103 goals in three seasons and most teams would consider him untouchable. It’s hard to imagine how much a team would have to give up to pry him out of St. Petersburg. Looking past Laine, Jakub Vrana, a 23-year-old forward, will catch the eyes of GMs looking to shave salary, and everyone would love goalie Juuse Saros. St. Petersburg also has a huge stock of prospects in the system; 16 players in fact, and all their draft picks. General Manager Ben Stuller seems to be stocking up for the future, but the team is also in a position to make the playoffs this season because he has shrewdly built a roster of veterans with reasonable contracts. Only five guys on the team make more than $3.4 million.

2. Where could the Krasnyye Zvezdy use help? In Season 10, the four important shots and goals per game averages all went in the wrong direction compared to St. Pete’s Season 9 numbers. So one would think they need general improvement all over the ice. But they don’t have to worry about their powerplay – led by Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrik Laine – which was 4th best in the league last year. They proved they know goal scoring. At even strength, Tarasenko and Laine scored more than 20 goals each and their center Sergei Mozyakin led the team in goals (40) and points (91). But these three sharpshooters thought the defensive zone was a haunted house. They rarely went near it and had plus-minus ratings between -25 and -40.

3. Is Juuse Saros the answer in goal? Long-term, he is. Don’t let the Finn’s 87.5 save percetage fool you. He’s just 24 and he will get better and better. But if St. Petersburg has designs on the playoffs this season, Stuller might need to find an upgrade or at least a good backup. Saros has four experienced defensemen in front of him with a last pairing still to be decided. Dmitry Orlov and Kevin Shattenkirk are very good in both ends and Philip Larsen and Nick Holden are responsible defensive defensemen. Larsen is a very good shot blocker and a smooth skater. But up front, where Petrograd has six veterans 30 or older, the team could use more speedy, defensive-minded players for Saros’ sake. Another Mattias Sjogren would be great. The Swede has speed to burn, experience and he loves digging for pucks.

History

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

Season 10             15             78           20.5      80.4        28.27      28.67     3.24     3.74       9.57

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 39. Games played: 627; Save Pct. 90.1

Season 2: Danis Zaripov, LW, age 29. GP 263, Pts 61, +27

Season 3: Cam Atkinson, RW, age 31. GP 592, Pts 265, -21

Season 4: Mats Zuccarello, LW, age 33.  GP 563,  Pts 313, +12

Season 5: Jan Kovar, LW, age 29. GP 483, Pts 360, -28

Season 6: Tobias Rieder, RW, age 26. GP 320,  Points 83, +50

Season 7: Patrik Laine, W, age 22. GP 250, Points 214, -78

Season 8: Juuse Saros, G, age 24.  GP 110, Save Pct. 87.5

Season 9: Morgan Frost, C, age 20.

Season 10: Rasmus Kupari, C, age 19.

Season 11: Dylan Cozens, 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 2021 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 (Martin Fehervary)

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

Traded John Carlson to London for Yegor Milovzorov, Urho Vaakanainen and 2022 Round 1 pick (Tobias Bjornfot)

Season 11