Farm Club: Stockholm Sun Towers 

GM: Mikko M (fourth GM in team’s history)

Coach: Bary Trotz (replaced Mike Johnston after Seaosn 10) (Johnston replaced Bob Hartley after Season 4) (Hartley replaced Claude Noel after Season 3)

Last season: 5th overall, (In playoffs, defeated Olso; lost to Copenhagen)

Ins and Outs (Season 10 to Season 11)

Out: Louie Domingue (free agent), Vladislav Namestnikov (free agent), Johan Larsson (free agent), Linden Vey (free agent), Ian White (retired)

In: Nikita Nikitin (free agent), Colton Sissons (free agent), Matias Maccelli (draft), Anttoni Honka (draft)

In Place

(Key players signed past Season 11)

Braden Holtby, G; Jack Eichel, C; Nikolaj Ehlers, LW; Zach Bogosian, D; Olli Maatta, D; Cam Fowler, D

Three Questions

1. Were the Eagles really 5th overall last season? Yes. Stockholm’s 106-point season was the franchise’s best performance through the first decade of the EURO League. Their best finish before that was 8th place in Season 6. The Eagles made it into the second round of the playoffs before a disastrous 4-game loss to the eventual champs, Copenhagen. Three of those four games were decided by just one goal. Stockholm should be a legitimate Cup contender this season. Special teams have been a problem in Stockholm for a long, long time, but if Season 10 is an indicator, then they might be out of the woods because they placed in the top 10 in both powerplay and penalty killing efficiency. Stockholm is a good mix of young and old right now with several key players in their prime. If they don’t get closer to the Cup in Season 11, they will have to start looking at free agency or trades to compete at the same level because Alexander Ovechkin, Blake Wheeler and a few others aren’t going to be able to keep it up forever.

2. Who has the most to prove in Stockholm? We would say Ryan Johansen does, but he certainly proved he deserves top minutes last year even though he played on the second line. If you look at the list of top scorers in Stockholm, Johansen is at the top. Maybe playing off the top line and away from the other team’s top defenders helped him. Compare him to top center Jack Eichel, and you’ll see Johansen ahead almost everywhere. He had more points, more shots, more hits, fewer penalties and a far superior plus/minus rating (+44 to -6) than Eichel even though he played 3 minutes less per game. Johansen’s agent is well aware of those stats and is sure to bring them up when he meets with GM Mikko M this summer to talk about Johansen’s new contract. Johansen and linemates Brayden Schenn and Nikolaj Ehlers were one of the very best second lines in the league last season and they can take a heaping helping when the accolades plate gets passed around. The Eagles will have three very strong lines again this season, especially on the wings where Alexander Ovechkin, Blake Wheeler, Kyle Oposo and Wayne Simmonds join Schenn and Ehlers.

3. How is the defense? Mikko M has the goalie of the present (Braden Holtby) and the goalie of the future (Carter Hart) signed for at least 3 and 5 years, respectively, and has two excellent defensemen locked up for more than one season. Season 10 All-Stars Zach Bogosian and Cam Fowler (All-Star Gaame MVP) have OV ratings of 88 and 87, respectively, with John Klingberg, Olli Maatta and Brady Skjei also under contracts for two or more years. Finnish puck-mover Roope Laavainen, 24, was hoping he’d get his chance to play with the big club this season, but Mikko signed veteran Nikita Nikitin to round out the defense. And the GM must consider Nikitin and checking center Colton Sissons to be key pieces of the team because when he plugged them into the pro/scratch team, there was no space remaining … sort of like when put the last piece of a puzzle into place.

History

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

Season 10              5             106          18.1      84.3       30.90         39.05     3.51     2.63      9.76

Season 9               16             77          15.9      80.9       30.45         31.11     2.82      3.16      8.18

Season 8                9             91          16.9      84.4       31.23         29.85     2.96      2.99      8.37

Season 7               14            86           17.8     82.5       29.89        31.24      3.10       3.00     8.73

Season 6               8              93            17.6    81.8       29.88        31.88      3.04       3.09     10.46

Season 5              19               74          15.0     75.6       28.6          32.28     2.82       3.59     10.27

Season 4              15              82           16.9     79.1       26.33         32.91     3.04        3.26    10.00

Season 3              24              57           14.5      77.8      25.77         32.01     2.65         3.76    11.02

Season 2              24              49           12.7      80.0      25.37         34.78     2.33        3.93    11.18

Season 1              11              93           21.5      80.4      32.61         30.01     3.48        3.28     9.01

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Cam Ward, G, current age 37. Games played: 459; Save Pct: 89.5

Season 2: Mattias Sjogren, LW, age 28. GP 648, Pts. 202, -12

Season 3: Brendan Gallagher, RW, age 28. GP 642, Pts. 504, -71

Season 4: Olli Maatta, D, age 26. GP 559, Pts. 181, +49

Season 5: Jindrich Barak, D, age 25.  GP 226, Pts. 50, -28

Season 6: John Klingberg, D, 27.  GP 396, Points 165, +35

Season 7: Louis Domingue, G, age 27. GP 51, Save Pct. 87.4

Season 8: Brady Skjei, D, age 25. GP 244, Pts. 52, +13

Season 9: Joni Ikonen, C/RW, age 21.

Season 10: Ryan Merkley, D, age 19.

Season 11: Matias Maccelli, LW, age 19.

Trade History

Seasons 2 and 3

Traded Keaton Ellerby to London for 2014 Round 3 pick (Curtis Lazar)

Traded Ryan Ellis to Gothenburg for Zach Boychuk

Traded Gothenburg’s 2015 Round 2 pick (David Savard) to St. Petersburg for Kevin Bieksa

Traded Mikko Lehtonen and Gothenburg’s 2014 Round 1 pick (Jonathan Drouin) to Belfast for Rick Nash

Traded Jaden Schwartz to Milan for Mike Richards and 2015 Round 2 pick (later traded to Madrid in Rick Nash trade) (Jake Virtanen)

Traded Kyle Okposo and 2014 Round 1 pick (gotten back later in a trade) (used to pick Brendan Gallagher) to Milan for Dustin Brown and 2014 Round 2 pick (Marcus Foligno)

Traded Cam Ward to Athens for Miikka Kiprusoff and Michal Neuvirth

Traded Josef Vasicek to Paris for Derek Brassard, Ryan Ellis and T.J. Brodie

Traded Miko Koivu to Paris for Jaden Schwartz and Stockholm’s previously traded away 2014 Round 1 pick (Brendan Gallagher)

Traded Loui Eriksson to Berlin for Mikko Lehtonen and 2014 Round 1 pick (Madrid’s) (Sean Monahan)

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

Traded Ryan Clowe to Paris for 2014 Round 3 pick (Thomas Hickey)

Traded Mark Giordano and Matthieu Garon to Copenhagen for Jonas Hiller and Darroll Powe

Traded Eric Staal to Gothenburg for Sam Gagner, 2014 Round 1 pick (later traded) (Jonathan Drouin) and 2015 Round 2 pick (later traded in Martin St. Louis trade)(David Savard)

Traded Travis Hamonic to Paris for Dmitri Orlov and 2014 Round 1 pick (Bern’s) (Jake Muzzin)

Traded Thomas Hickey to Milan for Magnus Johansson

Traded Rick Nash and 2015 Round 2 pick (Milan’s) (Jake Virtanen) to Madrid  Jeff Carter, Ryan Johansen and 2015 Round 1 pick (later traded) (Tomas Hertl)

Traded Dustin Brown to Moscow for Marcus Johansson and James Van Riemsdyk

Traded Magnus Johansson to Munich for Anton Babchuk

Traded Sam Gagner, Michal Neuvirth and 2015 Round 1 pick (Madrid’s) (later traded) (Tomas Hertl) to London for Braden Holtby

Traded Jordan Caron to Paris for Mike Green

Season 4

Traded Shane Doan, Anton Babchuk and Corey Potter to Bern for Mike Cammalleri and Dalton Prout

Traded 2017 Round 3 pick (later traded) (Calle Jarnkrok) to Minsk for 2015 Round 2 pick (Julius Honka)

Traded 2018 Round 3 pick (Nick Merkley) to Paris for Viktor Fasth

Traded T.J. Brodie to Copenhagen for Colin Greening

Traded Jonas Hiller to Madrid for Tomas Vokoun and 2015 Round 2 pick (Nikita Scherbak)

Season 5

Traded James Van Riemsdyk and Jakub Petruzalek to Dublin for Bobby Ryan

Traded Dmitri Orlov and Jake Muzzin to London for Zach Bogosian

Traded Nikita Scherbak to Helsinki for 2016 Round 2 pick (Connor Bleackley) and 2016 Round 3 pick (Oslo’s) (Ryan Gunderson).

Season 6

Traded Karl Alzner to Bratislava for Luke Adam

Traded Jeff Carter to Copenhagen for Steve Chalmers, 2017 Round 2 pick (Daniel Sprong) and 2017 Round 3 pick (Linden Vey)

Traded Mike Richards to Paris for Mikko Koivu, 2017 Round 2 pick (Mirco Mueller) and 2017 Round 3 pick (Vladislav Namestnikov)

Traded 2019 Round 2 pick (later traded to London and used to pick Martin Necas) to Berlin for Erik Ersberg

Traded Pavel Datsyuk to Helsinki for 2017 Round 3 pick (Johan Larsson)

Traded Marcus Foligno to Lisbon for Adam Lowry

Traded Mikko Koivu to Gothenburg for Eric Staal

Traded Sean Monahan,  Craig Smith, Jindrich Barak, Cody Ceci and 2018 Round 1 pick (Alexander Nylander) to Munich for Jack Eichel, Charlie Coyle and 2018 Round 2 pick (Sam Steel)

After Season 6 started:

Traded Marcus Johansson to Prague for Bryan Little

Traded Simon Despres to Bratislava for Mark Pysyk

Traded J.T. Miller and Connor Bleakley to Prague for Tomas Jurco

Season 7 

Traded Jeff Carter and 2020 Round 1 pick (Ryan Poehling) to Berlin for David Krejci and 2020 Round 2 pick (Joni Ikonen)

Traded Mattias Sjogren to St. Petersburg for Mats Zuccarello and 2018 Round 2 pick (Louis Domingue)

after season started: Traded Tomas Jurco and Dalton Prout to Copenhagen for Ilya Nikulin and Lars Eller; lost Riley Nash (waivers).

Season 8

Traded Ilya Nikulin to St. Petersburg for Joakim Hillding

Traded 2020 Round 3 pick (Dylan Samberg) to Milan for 2019 Round 3 pick (Carter Hart)

Season 9

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

Traded Brendan Gallagher to Helsinki for Nikolaj Ehlers and Brayden Schenn

Season 10

Traded 2021 Round 1 pick (Jesperi Kotkaniemi) to Helsinki for 2021 Round 1 pick (Ryan Merkley) and 2021 Round 2 pick (Veini Vehvilainen)

Traded Andrew Ladd, Michael Grabner, Aleksi Heponiemi, 2022 Round 1 pick (traded away, Oskar Lindblom) and 2023 Round 2 pick to Helsinki for Blake Wheeler, Kyle Okposo, Filip Chytil, Adrian Kempe, 2022 Round 3 pick (Geneva’s, Matias Maccelli) and 2023 Round 3 pick

Season 11