Owner: Bogdan Podarok, entrepeneur

Farm Club: Aalborg (Denmark) Pirates 

GM: Austin Dwyer  (3rd GM in team’s history)

Coach: Rob Brind’Amour (replaced Randy Carlyle after Season 11) (Carlyle replaced Guy Boucher after Season 5)

Last season: 18th overall; missed playoffs

Ins and Outs  (Season 11 to Season 12)

Out: Pekka Rinne (retired), P.K. Subban (free agent), T.J. Brennan (free agent), Louis Leblanc (free agent), Alejandro Hernandez (free agent), Mikhail Pashnin (free agent), Linus Klasen (free agent), D’Artagnan Joly (free agent), Sebastian Uvira (free agent),

In: Sidney Crosby (free agent), Ryan Murray (free agent), Patric Hornqvist (free agent), Cory Schneider (free agent), Jamie McBain (free agent), Mats Rosseli Olsen (free agent), Leonardo Genoni (free agent), D’Artagnan Joly (free agent), Dmytro Timashov (free agent)

In Place (Key players signed past Season 12)

Dylan Sikura, C; Petr Vrana, LW; Andrei Svechnikov, RW; Adam Fox, D; Oscar Klefbom, D

Three Questions

1. What should we look for in Gothenburg? What most people think of when they think about the Frolunda are A) The top line of Adam Henrique, Jordan Eberle and Petr Vrana; B) Fighters Mark Fraser and Mikhail Pashnin on defense, and: C) The fact Gothenburg has won the last two draft lotteries to scoop up Jack Hughes and Adam Fox. Those two will head up the next wave of talent to roll through western Sweden. And they will have a great tutor this season because General Manager Austin Dwyer lured former Edinburgh center Sidney Crosby to the Frolunda as a free agent. The former Pittsburgh Penguin great is 35 now and he might have to settle for third-line duty at some point this season. His point totals have gone down in two successive seasons to 53 last season at 22 minutes per game. Hughes, a center with speed and skill, will particularly benefit from watching and interacting with Crosby. Fox looks like he will be able to step right into the starting lineup as a defenseman.

2. What will the biggest changes be this year? The team is unlikely to lead the league in penalties like it did in Season 11. Mikhail Pashnin (217 PIMs last year) is now with London, the second-most penalized team. The Fighting Royals should pass Gburg in penalty minutes if Pashnin gets some ice time. But the biggest difference from Season 11 will be the defense corps. From last season’s three regular pairings, only steady Oscar Klefbom and policeman Mark Fraser remain. In a major coup, Dwyer was able to sign former Smurf Ryan Murray who will play at least a year with the Frolunda. Tyler Myers, longtime Bratislava number one defender, was also signed and Adam Fox will step into the lineup fresh off his being selected with the first overall draft pick. Look for fewer point-blank chances in front of the Frolunda goal and better possession in the defensive half because those three new starters all have very high hockey sense.

3. Rinne has retired. Are there question marks in goal? Yes. After 8 seasons as the number one goalie in Gothenburg, Finn Pekka Rinne decided to retire from the game. Dwyer signed Cory Schneider and drafted Pavel Francouz to fill that void. The two goalies are quite similar in attributes. Where they differ most is in intensity and in the attributes that relate to their vastly different experience levels. Francouz is a rookie and Schneider has been around since he was a Belfast Giant goalie for the first 3 seasons of the league. After a 5-season spell in Munich that ended in season 8, Schneider hasn’t appeared in a EURO League game. He has an impressive 90.5 lifetime save percentage and Frolunda fans hope he can get back to that form in quick order. Still, Schneider is considered a bit fragile, so Francouz and longtime Rinne backup Ben Scrivens will have to be ready to play on a moment’s notice. Ideally, Dwyer and the fans would like to see Francouz start his career as a reliable number one who can grow along with Hughes, Fox and Co.

History

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

Season 1              14             88           17.4       86.6      30.74     28.65     3.26     3.13      7.95

Season 2              15            86            17.4      84.6      30.12     30.93     3.44      3.50     11.02

Season 3              11             91            18.9      83.4       28.96     30.91     3.41      3.46     10.98

Season 4                8            104          18.6      79.4       29.73     29.84      3.56     2.87       8.06

Season 5              17            80            16.50    82.20    28.93      31.80      2.84     3.16      10.73

Season 6                7           96             18.2       83.8      29.55     29.02      3.12     2.91      10.63

Season 7               10          92            20.5      80.9       29.96      29.39      3.45     3.32      10.20

Season 8              22          66            17.9      77.3      28.57       31.28       2.71    3.67     12.12

Season 9              23          65            17.0      79.9      29.16       32.12       2.99    4.05     11.40

Season 10              19          72            17.3      77.3      27.68       31.26    3.04   4.01     12.39

Season 11              18         75            16.9      82.8      27.71       30.46    2.98   3.71     13.89

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Adam Henrique, C, current age 32. Games played: 889; points: 894; –127

Season 2: Petr Vrana, LW, age 31. GP 792; Pts 513; -102

Season 3: Beau Bennett, RW, age 30.  GP 600; Pts 200; -62

Season 4: none

Season 5: Linus Klasen, LW, age 28. GP 336; Pts 124; -16

Season 6: Oliver Kylington, D, 23. GP 6; Pts 0; -1

Season 7: Kieffer Bellows, LW/C, age 23.

Season 8: Kailer Yamamoto, RW, age 22.

Season 9: Dylan Sikura, C, 23. GP 241, Pts 183, -30

Season 10: Andrei Svechnikov, RW, age 20. GP 75; Pts 6; -7

Season 11: Jack Hughes, C, age 19. GP 2; Pts 1; even plus/minus rating

Season 12: Adam Fox, D, age 21.

Trade History

Season 2

Traded Sam Gagner, 2014 Round 1 pick (traded later) (used to draft Jonathan Drouin) and 2015 Round 2 pick (David Savard) to Stockholm for Eric Staal

* missing one trade, probably in this period.

Season 3

Traded Milan Lucic, 2016 Round 1 pick (Sandro Zurkirchen) and 2017 Round 1 pick (Kevin Hayes) to Minsk for Zach Parise

Traded Devante Smith-Pelly, Ales Hemsky and 2016 Round 2 pick (Alexander Toryanik)  to St. Petersburg for Martin St. Louis

Traded 2015 Round 1 pick (Dan Dekeyser) and 2015 Round 3 pick (Alex Tuch) to Milan for Antti Niemi

Season 4

Traded Morgan Rielly, Eric Gelinas and 2017 Round 2 pick (Brayden McNabb) to Oslo for Ryan Suter

Traded Martin St. Louis, Antti Niemi, Erik Johnson, Scott Harrington, Zack Phillips, 2016 Round 3 pick (Andreas Englund), 2017 Round 3 pick (Ivan Trenin) and 2018 Round 1 pick (Jakob Chychrun) to St. Petersburg for Pekka Rinne, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Blake Wheeler

Traded Zach Parise to Lisbon for 2016 Round 1 pick (Linus Klasen)

Traded Ryan Suter and Blake Wheeler to Moscow for Kevin Dallman and 2016 Round 1 pick (Olli Palola)

Traded 2018 Round 3 pick (Trevor Van Riemsdyk) to Moscow for Aleksey Morozov

After Season 5 started

Signed Frazer McLaren (free agent)

Traded 2019 RD 3 pick (Anton Slepyshev) to Copenhagen for Anthony Nigro (formerly named Chris Legge)

Claimed Louis Leblanc (waivers)

Season 6

Traded Patrick Marleau to Munich for Braydon Coburn and 2017 Round 3 pick (Oliver Kylington)

Traded Eric Staal to Stockholm for Mikko Koivu

Season 7

After season started: signed Mike Cammalleri (free agent), signed Pascal Dupuis (free agent)

Season 8

Traded John Carlson and 2021 Round 3 pick (Drake Batherson) to St. Petersburg for Oscar Klefbom, Kevin Fiala and 2021 Round 1 pick (Oliver Wahlstrom)

Season 9

Season 10

Traded 2022 Round 3 pick (Martin Fehervary) to St. Petersburg for 2021 Round 3 pick (Jan Drozg)

Season 11

Season 12