Season 11: Bratislava Eagles

Team owner: Juraj Dluhy, CEO, Cestné a Stavebné Mechanizmy Tisovec (a military equipment manufacturer in Detva, Slovakia.)

Farm club: Vienna (Austria) Capitals

GM: Chuck Massaro (only GM in team’s history)

Coach: Lindy Ruff (replaced Brent Sutter after Season 6, who replaced Bruce Boudreau after Season 3)

Last season: 5th overall (In playoffs, lost to Milan)

Ins and Outs (Season 10 to Season 11)

Out: Diego Kostner (free agent), Nathan Gerbe (free agent), Alexander Semin (retired), Shawn Matthias (free agent)

In: Milan Gulas (waivers), Vasili Glotov (free agent), Matus Holenda (free agent), Radim Simek (free agent), Spencer Knight (draft), Rudolfs Balcers (draft)

In Place

(Key players signed past Season 11)

Frederik Andersen, G; Zemgus Girgensons, LW; Morten Madsen, C; Evgeny Solomonov, LW; Troy Loggins, C

Three Questions

Where would the Eagles be without Frederik Andersen? Bratislava finished 5th overall in Season 10 and because of that, they earned the privilege of losing a first round playoff round as a favorite. Without their goalie Andersen, they would have placed in the middle of the pack and then lost in the first round as an underdog. If you sort the team stats from last year by shots against per game, Bratislava was 9th best. If you then sort by goals against, they are suddenly third best. If that last ranking is better than the other one, then your goalie is doing a good job. Last season, Andersen did as good a job as any coach could hope for. His 91.7 save percentage was the best in the league, a little better than Braden Holtby’s in Stockholm, and he walked out of the Awards Ceremony with two trophies. The Danish goalie is 31 and likely to play three more seasons with the club that’s willing to pay him $10.2 million annually. Connor Hellebuyck is considered the team’s goalie of the future. He was an excellent backup last season and he couldn’t ask for a better tutor than Andersen.
Their PP was pretty bad last year. Is that a long-term problem? Bratislava’s suddenly bad powerplay isn’t too concerning but it does shine the spotlight on the team’s declining ability to put up offense. This team was built around the notion that flexibility and balance is good. For example, Zemgus Girgensons is becoming a player who can play on the checking line or the top line if needed. Gregory Beron was acquired in a trade because he can play any position other than goalie. But with the focus on two-way play, the team lost sight of specialists; guys who think offense and can make the powerplay sing. Tyler Toffoli was supposed to be one of those kind of guys – Tyler Ennis definitely was – but Ennis left a few years back for more money in Berlin and Toffoli has disappointed. And if it wasn’t for tall Tyler Myers on defense, the team would REALLY struggle for goals. Myers, 31, can be counted on for 15-20 goals and 50 assists at this point in his career.
What happens to this team in Season 12 and beyond? Most of the players on current roster are ages 26 to 30, so this group has a few good years in it and the hope is Andersen will play well till the end of that period. Even if he does, two of the team’s main engines are getting older. Jonathan Toews and Tyler Myers will start to deteriorate and General Manager Chuck Massaro is unlikely to sign them to long-term deals, so one or both might pull an Ennis and give Daddy Deep Pockets in Berlin a call. Most worrisome is the fact Bratislava is woefully short of young talent, despite the fact they have the reigning Rookie of the Year, Troy Loggins, in the fold. They only have two players under 25 with PO ratings of 80 or higher. Massaro’s goal every year is to make the playoffs. With Andersen, they always have a shot at that. But by Season 15, this team will descend to the basement or thereabouts.

History

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

Season 10 5 106 14.7 83.3 30.56 28.88 3.38 2.70 9.76

Season 9 13 91 22.8 79.8 32.13 26.46 3.59 3.39 6.63

Season 8 3 115 20.7 82.8 32.37 26.71 3.67 2.74 7.12

Season 7 3 114 23.7 84.8 34.71 24.73 3.66 2.63 8.32

Season 6 13 88 17.9 81.5 30.70 27.52 3.20 3.13 9.20

Season 5 9 95 16.7 83.2 31.48 27.62 3.33 3.11 8.54

Season 4 11 93 17.3 77.1 33.94 27.01 3.71 3.50 11.93

Season 3 11 91 15.4 83.8 30.82 26.94 3.51 3.35 11.12

Season 2 6 101 18.3 82.7 31.43 26.76 3.57 3.28 11.67

Season 1 8 95 16.4 81.0 30.17 29.01 3.45 3.22 9.22

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Jonathan Toews, C, current age 33. Games played: 785; points: 925; +105

Season 2: Milan Gulas, C, age 33. GP 687, Pts 426, +95

Season 3: Michael Stone, D, age 30. GP 490, Pts 178, +131

Season 4: Zemgus Girgensens, C, age 26. GP 416, Pts 180, +57

Season 5: Morten Madsen, C, age 28. GP 164, Pts 96, +40

Season 6: Dylan Strome, C, age 22.

Season 7: Connor Hellebuyck, G, age 26. GP 83, save pct. 88.6

Season 8: Mike Matheson, D, age 25. GP 240, Pts 83, +23

Season 9: Michal Kristof, C, age 24. GP 1; Pts 0; plus/minus 0

Season 10: Nicolas Beaudin, D, age 20.

Season 11: Spencer Knight, G, age 18.

Trade History

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

Traded Round 5 pick (used to draft Kimo Timonen) to Bern for Round 8 pick (Martin Erat) 2013 Round 1 (Weiyang Zhang) and 2013 Round 2 pick (Leonardo Genoni)

Traded Round 8 pick (David Desharnais) and Round 19 pick (Greg Zanon) to Geneva for Round 17 pick (Tomas Kopecky) and 2014 Round 1 pick (Michael Stone)

Traded 2013 Round 2 pick (Oleg Podyedonostsev) to Milan for Round 20 pick (David Steckel)

Traded David Steckel to Edinburgh for Round 21 pick (David Moss)

Season 2

Traded Lee Stempniak and 2014 Rd 3 (Steve Olesky) to Paris for Philip Larsen

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

Traded 2016 Round 1 pick (Bud Holloway) to Geneva for Chris Kunitz and 2016 Round 1 pick (later traded to Copenhagen – Simon Hjalmarsson)

Traded 2016 Round 1 pick (Geneva’s) (Simon Hjalmarsson) to Copenhagen for Matt Frattin and 2016 Round 1 pick (Morten Madsen)

Traded 2017 Round 3 pick (Julius Nattinen) to Belfast for 2016 Round 3 pick (Evgeny Solomonov)

Traded 2017 Round 2 (Daniel Sprong) pick to Copenhagen for Troy Brouwer

After Season 5 started