Team owner: Sergei Smirnov, former director of JSC Proletarsky Zavod
Farm Club: Sibir Novosibirsk (Russia)
GM: Ben Stuller (3rd GM in team’s history)
Coach: John Stevens (replaced Guy Boucher after Season 8, who replaced Paul Maurice after Season 6, who replaced Kevin Dineen after Season 4)
Last season: 14th overall, (In playoffs, lost to Helsinki)
Ins and Outs
(Season 11 to Season 12)
Out: Evgeni Malkin (free agent), Ilya Kovalchuk (free agent), Marc-Andre Fleury (retired), Philip Larsen (free agent), Paul Stasny (free agent), Corey Perry (free agent), Zack Smith (free agent), Roman Starchenko (free agent), Nick Holden (free agent), Blake Coleman (waivers), Sam Gagner (free agent), Michael Sauer (free agent), Travis Sanheim (waivers)
In: Alexander Ovechkin (free agent), John Klingberg (free agent), Nikita Zadorov (free agent), Nikita Zaitsev (free agent), Anthony Mantha (free agent), Tomas Tatar (free agent), Gustav Nyquist (free agent), Brandon Sutter (free agent), Dustin Byfuglien (free agent), Martin Hanzal (free agent), Vlad Namestnikov (free agent), Karl Alzner (free agent), Tobias Rieder (free agent), Anton Khudobin (free agent), Alexander Toryanik (free agent), Tomas Vincour (free agent), Artem Anisimov (free agent)
In Place
(Key players who are or can be signed past Season 12)
Sergei Mozyakin, C; Patrik Laine, LW; Jakub Vrana, LW; Mattias Sjogren, RW; Juuse Saros, G;
Three Questions
1. Are the Krasnyye Zvezdy OK in goal? Here at EURO headquarters in Vienna, our scientists noticed a subtle shift in St. Petersburgh’s team statistics from Season 11, but they are surprised at their own conclusion that Juuse Saros was a very good goalie. The Zvezdy seemed to play a looser game last season and their shots for and shots against both went up from the season before. But while that resulted in just 2 more goals for, it also resulted in 35 fewer goals. Credit Saros for that. The 25-year-old Finn really improved from the previous season, lowering his goals against average by a half a goal and his save percentage improved from 87.6 to 90.0, good enough to place him 10th in the league.
2. Will the quick makeover vault St. Petersburg up the standings? General Manager Ben Stuller had some great luck at the beginning of free agency and it seemed like half the players in the league were jostling for position in front of the “Welcome to Petrograd” sign. Why they all wanted to come to northwest Russia is a mystery. Maybe it was Stuller’s intoxicating after shave lotion. Thirteen free agents signed with Stuller by the time the second free agent signing period was winding down. Alexander Ovechkin, Nikita Zaitsev and Nikita Zadorov – all of whom were born down the highway in Moscow – were among them. They will be starters this year, as will nine other newcomers to the team. That means 60 percent of the roster is brand new to the team, including three who were teammates in Stockholm last season. And they have quality. St. Petersburg now has 8 forwards, 3 defensemen and a goalie who have ratings of 80 or higher. If the Krasnyye Zvezdy are able to gel in any reasonable amount of time, they should finish much higher in the standings than the 14th place they occupied at the end of Season 11.
3. How are the new forward lines shaping up? For all the new players St. Petersburg picked up, they still didn’t have quite enough pure centers. When all the higher-quality centers were gone from the free agent shelf, GM Ben took a turn onto the trade route and acquired Cody Eakin from Lisbon for two younger players. Eakin only played 18 games last season but scored 13 points. Sergei Mozyakin is obviously a lock at center in the lineup because he scored 93 and 91 points the last two seasons. Brandon Sutter only played 6 games with Copenhagen last season, but he seems like a permanent fixture too. Eakin and Sutter are your new number 2 and 3 centers in Petrograd. That means that after Mozyakin, you have three centers who played a combined 24 games last season. Huge Alexander Toryanik seems like he is a lock to play too, even though he has played just one EURO League game. Why? Because he’s the only other center on the roster right now. He won’t look out of place and projects to play a little like Brian Boyle did in the NHL. Look for right winger Tomas Tatar or Gustav Nyquist to be shifted to left wing to fill out that positon on the depth chart. However Stuller and his new coach shuffle the deck, he will have lines with elite speed and puckhandling ability. It should also be noted that Sutter and Mattias Sjogren are premier penalty killers and they will be important members of this team.
History
Season Place PTS PP % PK % SPG SAPG GPG GAPG PIM
Season 1 3 118 20.5 83.7 32.41 27.82 3.60 2.44 9.05
Season 2 2 106 17.1 84.9 32.87 29.78 3.29 2.65 10.95
Season 3 12 89 16.8 82.8 30.6 29.72 3.16 3.29 12.60
Season 4 23 57 14.20 85.60 30.07 30.96 2.52 3.46 12.02
Season 5 12 85 17.3 82.4 30.27 29.70 3.10 3.22 11.10
Season 6 22 65 16.9 79.2 31.18 28.32 2.85 3.62 11.83
Season 7 17 73 18.9 81.8 30.66 30.04 3.00 3.56 10.37
Season 8 15 81 20.5 77.6 28.39 32.51 3.21 3.57 12.05
Season 9 5 101 17.4 84.1 31.40 26.89 3.48 2.84 9.30
Season 10 15 78 20.5 80.4 28.27 28.67 3.24 3.74 9.57
Season 11 14 85 17.5 82.1 28.46 29.98 3.27 3.32 9.68
Top Draft picks
Season 1: Pekka Rinne, G, RETIRED. Games played: 676; Save Pct. 90.0
Season 2: Danis Zaripov, LW, age 30. GP 266, Pts 62, +29
Season 3: Cam Atkinson, RW, age 32. GP 613, Pts 278, -19
Season 4: Mats Zuccarello, LW, age 34. GP 604, Pts 327, +9
Season 5: Jan Kovar, LW, age 30. GP 565, Pts 421, -2
Season 6: Tobias Rieder, RW, age 27. GP 387, Points 109, +68
Season 7: Patrik Laine, W, age 23. GP 332, Points 287, -72
Season 8: Juuse Saros, G, age 25. GP 172, Save Pct. 88.5
Season 9: Morgan Frost, C, age 21.
Season 10: Rasmus Kupari, C, age 20.
Season 11: Dylan Cozens, C, age 19.
Season 12: Lucas Raymond, LW, age 18.
Trade History
Season 1 (picks without years listed are from initial draft)
Traded Round 6 pick (used to draft Patrik Berglund) and 2013 Round 1 pick (Thomas Powell) to Minsk for Round 4 pick (used to draft Brent Burns)
Traded Patrick Kane to Zurich for Brad Richards
Traded Round 18 pick (Brandon Gormley) to Milan for Round 20 pick (Jonathan Bernier) and Round 22 pick (Jakub Kindl)
Traded James Neal, Andrei Kostitsyn and Karl Alzner to Edinburgh for Marc-Eduoard Vlasic, Blake Wheeler and Artem Anisimov
Traded Daniel Alfredsson to Milan for Viktor Stalberg, 2104 Round 1 (Cam Atkinson) and $1 million
Traded Kyle Wellwood to Edinburgh for David Steckel and 2013 Round 3 (Jamie Oleksiak)
Season 2
Traded Jarome Iginla to Helsinki for Martin St. Louis and 2015 Round 3 pick (Jakub Vrana)
Traded Martin St. Louis to Gothenberg for Devante Smith-Pelley, Ales Hemsky and 2016 Round 2 pick (Alexander Toryanik)
Traded Kevin Bieksa to Stockholm for Gotherburg’s 2015 Round 2 pick (David Savard)
Season 3
Season 4
Traded Marc-Eduoard Vlasic, Blake Wheeler and Pekka Rinne to Gothenburg for Erik Johnson, Martin St. Louis, Antti Niemi, Zack Phillips, Scott Harrington, 2018 Round 1 pick (Jeff Chychrun), 2016 Round 3 pick (Andreas Englund), and 2017 Round 3 pick (Yakov Trenin)
Season 5
Season 6
After Season 6 started: Traded Stefan Ulmer to Berlin for 2019 Round 2 pick (traded back to Berlin later; used to pick Filip Hronek)
Season 7
Traded Devante Smith-Pelly and 2018 Round 1 pick (Shayne Gostisbehere) to Oslo for 2018 Round 1 pick (Patrik Laine)
Traded Mats Zuccarello-Aasen and a 2018 Round 2 pick (Louis Domingue) to Stockholm for Mattias Sjogren
Traded Artem Anisimov, Brad Richards and 2019 Round 3 pick (Matt Benning) to Zurich for Ilya Kovalchuk
Traded Wayne Simmonds and Berlin’s 2019 Round 2 pick (later traded to Berlin and used to pick Filip Hronek) to Lisbon for Marcus Foligno, Darnell Nurse and a 2019 Round 3 pick (Tyler Parsons)
Traded Brent Burns to Bratislava for Karl Alzner and Anthony Mantha
after season started; Traded Karl Alzner to Moscow for Travis Sanheim; claimed Chris Tanev (waivers)
Season 8
Traded Joakim Hillding to Stockholm for Ilya Nikulin
Traded Jonathan Huberdeau, Tobias Rieder and Jakob Chychrun to Belfast for Sergei Mozyakin and Vladimir Tarasenko
Traded Kari Lehtonen and Anthony Mantha to Oslo for Semyon Varlamov
Traded 2021 Round 3 pick (later reacquired from Berlin in the Jan Kovar trade, then traded to Gothenburg for a 2021 Round 3 pick (Jan Drozg) to Berlin for Roman Polak
Season 9
Traded Oscar Klefbom, Kevin Fiala and 2021 Round 1 pick (Oliver Wahlstrom) to Gothenburg for John Carlson and 2021 Round 3 pick (Drake Batherson)
Traded 2020 Round 3 pick (Rhett Gardner) to Bratislava for 2021 Round 3 pick (Blake Coleman)
Traded Brent Burns to Copenhagen for Jacob De La Rose and 2021 Round 3 pick (later traded to Minsk (Philipp Kurashev)
Traded Jan Kovar to Berlin for 2021 Round 1 pick (Rasmus Kuperi) and 2021 Round 3 pick (St. Petersburg’s originally; later traded to Gothenburg and used to pick Jan Drozg)
Season 10
Traded Darnell Nurse and Cam Atkinson to Bern for Dmitry Orlov
Traded 2021 Round 3 pick (Jan Drozg) to Gothenburg for 2022 Round 3 pick (Martin Fehervary)
Traded 2021 Round 3 pick (Copenhagen’s originally – Philipp Kurashev) to Minsk for the rights to Patrick Kane (did not sign with St. Petersburg)
Traded John Carlson to London for Yegor Milovzorov, Urho Vaakanainen and 2022 Round 1 pick (Tobias Bjornfot)
Season 11
Season 12
Traded Anthony Mantha and Emil Bemstrom to Lisbon for Cody Eakin
