Owner: Sophia Rousseau, CEO, ELITE Models (Top Model agency in Paris)
Farm Club: Paris Francais Volants
GM: Donald Lockhart (3rd GM in team’s history)
Coach: Michel Therrien (replaced Randy Cunneyworth after Season 2)
Last season: 2nd overall (In playoffs, defeated Zurich, defeated Milan, lost to Berlin)
Ins and Outs (Season 10 to Season 11)
Out: Tuukka Rask (free agent), Bryan Little (free agent), Josef Vasicek (free agent), Siim Liivik (free agent), Kyle Brodziak (retired), Stephen Weiss (retired), Rickard Wallin (free agent), Aleksey Morozov (retired)
In: Rasmus Andersson (draft), Jason Dickinson (draft), Dominik Simon (draft), Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare (free agent), Ty Rattie (free agent)
In Place (Key players signed past Season 11)
Claude Giroux, C; Kyle Turris, C; Erik Karlsson, D; Travis Hamonic, D; Ken Kuusk, D; Ivan Provorov, D
Three Questions
1. Should we feel sorry for the team’s new GM? Donald Lockhart inherited a salary cap mess. It’s been fixed, but the team is weaker. Still, don’t feel sorry for Lockhart; he’s got plenty of talent left to remain a playoff team. More on that later. First, let’s see what the Rouge Eiffels lost. Three players retired, although two of them were merely spare parts last season. Kyle Brodziak was an underrated, solid contributor for 9 seasons and 4 teams. Then, because of the salary cap, several key players had to be jettisoned including the franchise goalie Tuukka Rask and last season’s second-leading scorer, Bryan Little. Two-way forward Josef Vasicek, who put in good service for the franchise in two different tenures also became unemployed, unexpectedly perhaps, since he played on the top line last season. The Eiffels also lost lower-tier wingers Rickard Wallin and Siim Liivik, who will be replaced by lesser players. So in total, the team lost its goalie, two-thirds of its top line, two-thirds of its third line and a veteran fourth-liner.
2. Who will take the place of the departed starters? In goal, Philipp Grubauer looks like he’s final ready to take over the starter role after being Rask’s understudy for seven seasons. He is 29, which is 5 years younger than Rask, so if Paris can convince him to stay past this season, they could have a solid answer in goal while promising Tanner Jaillet makes his bones. This season, the goalie position will be fine, and so will the top forward line. Marius Holtet, who had a breakout season last year as a 30-year-old, will be one of Claude Giroux’s wingmen. Holtet had always been held back by a great lineup in Minsk, but last season, he played on the second line in Paris and scored 20 goals and 59 points. The Norwegian is a good passer and responsible defensive player, but many question whether he can take the rigors of top line minutes. T.J. Oshie is nearly a mirror image of Holtet these days and he will play the other wing. Now that Oshie is 35, Coach Michel Therrien should have a backup plan handy because Oshie is more fragile than he’s ever been. Elsewhere among the Paris forward lines, however, Sacre Bleu! Improvement is definitely needed. Five current starters have OV ratings below 70 and that’s quite a step down from last season.
3. If the defense corps still really good? Yes, the Paris blueline is in very good hands, just like it has been since Season 1, And it looks like the enviable defense corps will remain in place for another two seasons at least because contracts are in place for all of them. Erik Karlsson and Ken Kuusk make one of the league’s best defense duos and their offensive flair will really help this team. The second duo is much better than most teams’ top pair. Travis Hamonic and Kris Letang play better defensively than Karlsson and Kuusk and they will surely be Grubauer’s favorite teammates this season. Young Ivan Provorov was a Season 6 prospect pick gamble that really paid off for Paris. He should be the leader of the blueline from 3 years out on with Sam Girard and Rasmus Andersson, who are learning the ropes this season with the farm club Francais Volants. Steve Oleksy will be Provorov’s partner and the veteran has stuck around the league because of his willingness to defend any teammate with a fight, and his willingness to give up the body to block shots and make checks. Oleksy’s intangible qualities are his best assets.
History
Season Place PTS PP % PK % SPG SAPG GPG GAPG PIM
Season 10 2 121 23.0 84.0 31.54 28.91 3.84 2.78 12.23
Season 9 10 95 22.5 81.9 31.87 29.12 3.57 3.09 12.27
Season 8 8 98 21.5 82.1 31.00 30.76 3.76 3.21 13.32
Season 7 5 108 18.5 85.9 32.55 28.16 3.93 2.89 12.39
Season 6 2 123 21.4 81.3 33.12 27.17 4.15 2.67 11.24
Season 5 4 111 21.3 85.6 34.59 27.26 4.10 2.88 10.93
Season 4 2 113 21.3 81.1 34.10 29.32 4.16 3.07 12.23
Season 3 1 116 18.0 84.5 33.88 27.52 4.09 2.93 13.85
Season 2 3 (Cup) 104 20.6 81.5 31.40 31.22 3.67 3.34 12.57
Season 1 19 72 22.8 79.8 27.65 33.06 3.07 3.68 9.09
Top Draft picks
Season 1: Alex Pietrangelo, D, current age 31. Games played: 799; points: 599; +324
Season 2: Ken Kuusk, D, age 27. GP 681, Pts 305, +186
Season 3: Viktor Fasth, G, age 38. GP 89, Save Pct. 88.8
Season 4: Philipp Grubauer, G, age 29. GP 119, Save Pct. 88.9
Season 5: Brandon Halverson, G, age 24.
Season 6: Ivan Provorov, D, age 23. GP 239, Points 45, +20
Season 7: Radek Faksa, LW, age 25. GP 321, Points 58, -16
Season 8: Aaron Dell, G, age 30. GP 18, Save Pct. 90.9
Season 9: Tanner Jaillet, G, age 21.
Season 10: Samuel Girard, D, age 20.
Season 11: Rasmus Andersson, D, age 22.
Trade History
Season 1 (picks without years listed are from initial draft)
Traded Round 3 pick (used to draft Dustin Byfuglien), Round 20 pick (Jonathan Bernier), and Round 26 pick (Jeff Woywitka)to Milan for Round 6 pick (used to draft David Perron), Round 21 pick (Mike Green) and 2013 Round 1 pick (Ossi Vaananen)
Traded Round 7 pick (Dennis Wideman) to Geneva for Round 15 pick (Ryan Ellis), Round 25 pick (Ben Lovejoy) and 2013 Round 1 pick (Jason Krog)
Traded Adrian Aucoin to Bern for Round 13 pick (Dmitri Orlov), Round 19 pick (Carlo Colaiacovo) and 2014 Round 1 pick (traded later) (Jake Muzzin)
Season 2
Traded 2014 Round 3 pick (Thomas Hickey) to Stockholm for Ryan Clowe
Traded Dmitri Orlov and 2014 Round 1 pick (Jake Muzzin) to Stockholm for Travis Hamonic
Traded Derek Brassard, T.J. Brodie and Ryan Ellis to Stockholm for Josef Vasicek
Traded Jaden Schwartz and 2014 Round 1 pick (Peter Mueller) to Stockholm for Miko Koivu
Traded Philip Larsen to Bratislava for Lee Stempniak and 2014 Round 3 pick (Steve Oleksy)
Season 3
Traded Mike Green to Stockholm for Jordan Caron
Season 4
Traded Viktor Fasth to Stockholm for 2018 Round 3 pick (Nick Merkley)
Season 5
After start of Season 5
Claimed Mike Ribeiro (waivers)
Claimed Nick Palmieri (waivers)
Claimed Jordan Caron (waivers)
Traded Andre Burakovsky to Copenhagen for Nathan Gerbe and 2017 Round 2 pick (Madrid’s) (Ilya Samsonov)
Season 6
Traded Jared McCann to Copenhagen for 2017 Round 1 pick (Athens’) (Ivan Provorov)
Traded Mikko Koivu, 2017 Round 2 pick (Mirco Mueller) and 2017 Round 3 pick (Vladislav Namestnikov) to Stockholm for Mike Richards
Traded 2018 Round 1 pick (Jake McCabe), Craig Paquette, Jordan Caron and Colton Gillies to Copenhagen for Dave Bolland, Benoit Pouliot, Martin Erat and 2018 Round 2 pick (Radek Faksa)
After Season 6 started:
Signed Sergei Zinovjev (free agent), Lauri Korpikoski (free agent), Ryan Clowe (free agent), Michael Ryder (free agent), Alex Tanguay (free agent); claimed Steve Olesky (waivers); claimed Colton Gillies (waivers) then lost Gillies (waivers); lost Nathan Gerbe (waivers)
Season 7
After season started: Signed Tom Wandell (free agent), signed Matt Frattin (free agent), claimed Damien Brunner (waivers); lost Radek Faksa (waivers)
Season 8
Season 9
Season 10:
Traded Alex Pietrangelo and Evgeny Malkin to Belfast for Erik Karlsson, Claude Giroux, 2023 Round 3 pick and 2024 Round 3 pick
Season 11:
