Farm Club: Venice (Italy) Griffins 

GM: Dennis Sullo (4th GM in team’s history)

Coach: Mike Sullivan (replaced Craig Berube after Season 9, Berube replaced Peter Laviolette after Season 8) (Laviolette replaced Paul MacLean after Season 4)

Last season: 17th overall; (In playoffs, lost to Paris)

Ins and Outs (Season 10 to Season 11)

Out: Carey Price (trade), Dmitrij Jaskin (free agent), Markus Granlund (free agent), Mikhail Grigorenko (free agent),

In: Mats Zuccarello (waivers), Mark Jankowski (free agent), Neal Pionk (draft), Oskar Lindblom (draft), Alexandar Georgiev (draft), Conor Garland (draft)

In Place (Key players signed past Season 11)

John Gibson, G;  Jacob Trouba, D;  Tyson Barrie, D; Charlie McAvoy, D; Alexander Polunin, RW; Brayden Point, C

Three Questions

1 Can you explain the Carey Price trade to us, please? There are good reasons for the Lions to have dealt away the famous goalie to Helsinki just to move up 12 spots in the Season 11 draft. Those reasons include: the salary cap, Price’s $10 million salary, Price’s age (34), an ongoing rebuild that has seen Zurich trading veterans for draft picks recently, and John Gibson. Price was the starter in Minsk for 8 seasons, winning two Cups in that period, and he was the starter in Zurich the last two seasons. His lifetime save percentage of 90.3 is 10th best all-time and his goals against average of 2.80 puts him 6th all-time. Gibson, a 26-year-old American, has been knocking on the door of the starting goalie office for three years now. He will get his big chance this season. Two of Zurich’s most recent trades netted them first-round draft picks. In addition to the Price trade, GM Dennis Sullo dealt Alexander Weiss for a first-round pick in Season 9.

2. What will Patrice Bergeron’s role be now that he’s 36? In Season 10, Bergeron played less than 22 minutes per game for the first time in his great 10-year career as a Lion. This year, it appears he will start as the second line center and of course, he will penalty kill. The first player ever signed by the franchise will also be captain of the team. Another thing Bergeron might be doing is holding back promising center Ryan Strome. The third-line center has developed nicely and he seems poised to bump Bergeron down a line and perhaps he might even supplant Brayden Point on the top line before the season is over. Last season, Strome tallied 55 points at just 15 minutes per game and he had his first “plus” season at +8. Point had a breakout season of his own last season, leading the team in scoring with 70 points, which was a 28-point improvement from the previous season. Aside from having three strong centers, Zurich has an exciting top line of Point, Jakub Voracek and Alexander Polunin, as well as skilled wingers Tomas Tatar, Jake Debrusk and Anthony Duclair ready to terrorize opponents with either Bergeron or Strome.

3. How would you describe the defensemen? Flexible and interchangeable. Coach Mike Sullivan has the luxury of having a lot of versatile defensemen to slot into his blueline pairs. Finding the best combinations will be one of his biggest challenges this year. Need firepower and offense? Tyson Barrie, Jacob Trouba and Charlie McAvoy are ready for the call. Need a guy who can block lanes and dig pucks out for you? Max Noreau, Daniel Fernholm, Robert Hagg and Trouba won’t let you down. Sullivan has penciled in Trouba and Barrie on the second pairing and a slightly lighter workload for them might pay off as they will both see top special teams minutes. Don’t want to torture the poor guys. Fernholm grew up in the Helsinki system and he absolutely loves to hit. As a 30-year-old last year, he recorded a personal best 291 hits to lead the league by a good margin. It doesn’t show up in any stats, but Fernholm’s reputation alone has to disrupt opponents’ plans as they enter the Zurich zone. McAvoy is a smart player who does well in both ends of the ice. He led Zurich defensemen in scoring last year and was second in shot blocks and plus/minus.

History

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

Season 10              17       77       14.1        81.1        26.33     32.20     2.94    3.51    7.26

Season 9              17       73       17.7        81.7        25.90     33.10        2.66    3.43      8.23

Season 8              24       60        15.4        82.6        28.10     29.07        2.52    3.57       9.93

Season 7              18       71        14.8         78.9       29.33     29.34        2.96    3.44       8.50

Season 6              14       86         16.6        79.4      28.63     30.74        3.11     3.30      7.83

Season 5              15        82          20.2        80.4    29.66      30.71        3.29    3.38        7.39

Season 4              9          96          19.0        81.3      31.60     28.98        3.60    3.22      9.71

Season 3             15         85          15.8        81.3      31.13      29.44        3.52    3.54    11.99

Season 2              8          97           17.7        83.1      30.04    28.27       3.26    2.91    11.27

Season 1             22         58           17.1       81.9       28.72     31.37       2.83     3.88    10.55

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Patrice Bergeron, C, currently age 36. GP 787, Pts 768, -156

Season 2: Alexander Radulov, RW, age 29. GP 696, Pts 612, -19

Season 3: Tyson Barrie, D, age 29.  GP 538,  Pts 222,  -50

Season 4: Tomas Tatar, LW, age 30.  GP 571,  Pts 329,  -83

Season 5: Alexander Weiss, D, age 28.  GP 376,  Pts 132,  -27

Season 6: John Gibson, G, age 26. GP 121, Save Percentage 88.7

Season 7: Anthony Duclair, RW, age 24. GP 211, Pts 79, -3

Season 8: Brayden Point, C, age 23.  GP  235, Pts 136, -77

Season 9: Alexander Polunin, RW, age 23. GP 163, Pts 101, -77

Season 10: Quinn Hughes, D, age 20.

Season 11: Neal Pionk, D, age 23.

Trade History

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

Traded Brad Richards to St. Petersburg for Patrick Kane

Traded Michael Ryder to Prague for Jussi Jokinen

Season 4

Traded Brian Elliott to Copenhagen for Roberto Luongo

Traded Alexander Radulov to Helsinki for Jacob Trouba

Traded Martin Thornberg to Copenhagen for 2016 Round 3 pick (Michael Keranen)

Traded Patrick Kane to Minsk for Jakub Voracek, Nathan Beaulieu and 2016 Round 1 pick (Sandro Zurkirchen)

Traded 2019 Round 3 pick (Drake Caggiula) to Belfast for Devan Dubnyk

Season 5

After Season 5 started Signed Ondrej Roman (free agent), signed Jimmy Hayes (free agent)

Season 6

After Season 6 started: Traded Janne Niskala to Minsk for Dmitrij Jaskin

Signed Nick Palmieri (free agent); claimed Mark Giordano (waivers), claimed Jori Lehtera (waivers), lost Jimmy Hayes (waivers)

Season 7

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

after season 7 started: Claimed Jesper fast (waivers), Joonas Donskoi (waivers); lost Ben Smith (waivers)

Season 8

After Season 8 started: Claimed Mikael Granlund (waivers);  Lost Michael Keranen (waivers); Signed Jaroslav Halak (free agent); Bought out Cam Ward

Season 9

Traded Charlie Coyle and Mark Pysyk to Bern for Jamie McBain

Traded T.J. Oshie to Stockholm for 2022 Round 2 pick (Alexandar Georgiev)

Traded Alexander Weiss and a 2021 Round 3 pick (Benoit-Olivier Groulx) to Bratislava for a 2021 Round 1 pick (Barrett Hayton)

Season 10
Traded Sandro Zurkirchen to Madrid for Danton Heinen

Season 11

Traded Carey Price and 2022 Round 2 pick (Cameron York) to Helsinki for 2022 Round 1 pick (Oskar Lindblom)