Owner: Tommy Ahlers, founder & CEO of ZYB, a popular social media & networking site in Denmark. Farm club: Malmo (Sweden) Redhawks GM: Martin Sayle (2nd GM in team’s history) Coach: Ken Hitchcock (replaced Paul Maurice after Season 9. Maurice replaced Dave Cameron after Season 7; Cameron replaced Paul Maurice after Season 4; Maurice replaced Brent Sutter after Season 3) Last season: 2nd…
Farm club: Tampere (Finland) Tappara GM: Jukka Tuominen (4th GM in team’s history) Coach: Brent Sutter (replaced Doug Weight after Season 9) (Weight replaced Barry Trotz after Season 7) Last season: 1st overall; (In playoffs, defeated St. Petersburg; then defeated Stockholm; then lost to Copenhagen in conference final.) Ins and Outs (Season 11 to Season 12) Out: Corey Price (trade), Nicklas Backstrom…
St. Petersburg is practically flipping its team, doing a major renovation that could include a new coach too. Today, the Krasnyye Zvezdy added eight players through free agency and they might not be done yet. The most famous of them all is Alexander Ovechkin, who at age 37, will get to say he has played…
When it was learned Nicklas Backstrom and Martin Hanzal were going to be a free agents, the Helsinki Jokerit suddenly had two big holes to fill at center. With a wave of his magic wand (and $15.1 million in cash) General Manager Jukka Tuominen made Joanthan Toews and Anze Kopitar appear. Kopitar joined the team…
EURO players are really greedy right now. When we advance to the next step, they will be more in the mood to take what they can get. Instead of holding out for $6 million today, a player might take $4 million on Wednesday. So what does a general manager do? If he has cash to…
The Madrid Royals made a strong move Sunday, spending $11.3 million to sign free agents Jakob Silfverberg and Nick Bjugstad. Silfverberg, a RW who is now 32, spent his whole career in Dublin. He is a good skater, a four-time 20-goal scorer and he is coming off his career-best point total of 56. Bjugstad, a…
Munich General Manager Jared Smith took his third big and bold stride in a rebuild and suddenly the Red Bulls look like a team that will make noise in Season 12. After signing Thomas Powell and P.K. Subban earlier in free agency the Red Bulls added former Bern star Derek Stepan early Saturday. Stepan was…
Carey Price has won more games than Tuukka Rask has, but no other goalie in EURO League history has. Rask took a year off last year after being dropped by his only club – the Paris Rouge Eiffels – and he came back as a Bern Interrail Friday, signing a contract for $4.2 million. He…
Jonathan Toews ranks fifth in scoring all-time in the EURO League and he will be wearing a new jersey for the first time. The Jokerit signed him to a two-year contract at $8.5 million per year and he should have a good chance of claiming the Cup he chased for the previous 11 seasons in…
Bidding has been slow in free agency but some of the bigger names are starting to come off the market. Helsinki and Bratislava, the two teams that were bounced out of the playoffs in their respective conference finals, shored up their defense with U.S. veterans who were among the top players available at that position.…
