Farm Club: MAC Budapest (Hungary) 

GM: Peter Ott (5th GM in team’s history)

Coach: Bruce Cassidy (replaced Patrick Roy after Season 10) (Roy replaced Guy Boucher after Season 9, Boucher replaced Paul MacLean after Season 8, who replaced Patrick Roy after Season 7; Roy replaced Dave Tippett)

Last season: 20th overall (did not make the playoffs)

Ins and Outs (Season 11 to Season 12)

In:  Michael Dal Colle (previous draft), Alexandre Texier (previous draft)

Out: Roman Josi (free agent), Viktor Arvidsson (free agent), Marcus Johansson (free agent)

 In Place  (Key players signed past Season 12)

Andrey Vasilevskiy, G; Mark Scheifele, C; Alex Galchenyuk, LW; Torey Krug, D; Miro Heiskanen, D; Mikhail Sergachev, D 

Three Questions

1. What is the Sparta’s biggest problem? Right now, the salary cap is holding Prague back. The team is loaded with potential (all but 2 starters have PO ratings of 80 or better) but it hurts that as they mature, they lose experienced teammates who could mentor them and contibute a lot to the team. Roman Josi, Marcus Johansson and Viktor Arvidsson all had to be allowed to leave through free agency because the Spartans are right up against the cap. They are fortunate to be able to start young guns like Miro Heiskanen and Brady Tkachuk who are paid peanuts but who produce a lot. But they are going to demand more money next season, so Prague might have to let some other quality player leave the lineup next year. That makes this year a time to make a move up the standings. Prague has too much talent to move backwards. The only question is how far up will they progress this year?

2. What are their main strengths? Prague GM Peter Ott has constructed a good defense in the Czech Republic. The maturation of Mikhail Sergachev and Miro Heiskanan has pushed the Sparta into a higher tier, defensively. Expect 27-year goalie Andrey Vasilevskiy’s save percentage to go up fairly dramaticly. But it would be even better for the team if these blueliners could get consistent. While Sergachev made large strides in his play last season, Heiskanen slumped after a great rookie season. And while 2-time all-star Tory Krug was among the best in the EURO, veteran Roman Josi struggled. Josi is gone now, but the point is Sparta could really benefit if everyone would row in the same direction at the same time. The team’s shots against and goals against averages went down significantly last season, which is a great sign. Krug is the only defenseman on the roster whose defense rating is above 80 so the forwards must be doing a good job of backchecking. Prague’s blueliners are extremely mobile and fast skaters, and as a group, they love to join the offense and pinch inside their opponent’s blueline. The forwards on their team like that.

2. Speaking of the forwards, who will make a difference for the team? We were surprised to see that there are about 40 players with higher OV ratings than the highest-ranked Spartans – Nail Yakupov, Alexander Galchenyuk and Tory Krug. The team’s top 6 forwards sure play like they are among the best in the league. Yakupov and Jimmie Ericsson scored 39 and 38 goals last season, respectively, placing them both in the top 7 in the league. Only Prague and Belfast had two players with at least 38 goals last season. Their centers, Mark Scheifele and Miro Aaltonen were both in the top 20 in assists. Galchenyuk has elite hockey sense and it shows up in his excellent turnover ratio. Like their teammates on the blueline, Prague’s forwards are fast skaters and they can buzz all over the rink like a swarm of bees. Sparta will be able to skate and score with any team. The areas were they will struggle this season are experience and size. Krug, 30, is the only player on the whole squad who is out of his 20s, and a half-dozen of his teammates are barely out of their teen years.

History

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

Season 1              6          103   19.9    78.4    31.63    29.35    3.89    3.21    8.24

Season 2              22         70  19.4    79.6    28.60    31.20    3.33    3.77    10.49

Season 3              23          61    13.4    79.6   26.28    32.96   2.89    4.18    11.18

Season 4              19          72    18.5    77.3   29.63    30.82   3.22    4.01     9.16

Season 5              16           81     21.6    72.9   31.37    30.41    3.40   3.68   5.52

Season 6              16          78      17.3    77.2   27.04   31.60   3.18    3.54   9.28

Season 7               21         66      20.8    79.8   25.87   33.18   3.11   4.10    8.67

Season 8               18         72      17.8    76.6    28.62   31.34   3.22   3.88    8.09

Season 9              22         66      19.3    76.4    25.87   32.76   3.32   4.16    9.11

Season 10             22         67      17.5    79.8    28.22   32.00   3.20   4.17    8.59

Season 11             20         70      20.0    79.1    28.96   28.87   3.54   3.93    8.46

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Zach Parise, LW, current age 38. Games played: 814; points: 781; -293

Season 2: Nail Yakupov, LW, age 29. GP 796; Pts. 517; +63

Season 3: Justin Schultz, D, age 31. GP 728; Pts 382, -101

Season 4: Torey Krug, D, age 30. GP 648; Pts 299, -129

Season 5: Vladimir Roth, D, 27. GP 468; Pts  142; -93

Season 6: Calvin Pickard, G, age 28. GP 377, Save Pct 90.0

Season 7: Mikhail Sergachev, D, age 22. GP 244, Pts 87; -28

Season 8: Miro Heiskanen, D, age 21. GP 144; Pts 59; -8

Season 9: Miro Aaltonen, C, age 25. GP 246, Pts 212, +21

Season 10: Brady Tkachuk, LW, age 21. GP 100; Pts 32; -6

Season 11: Bowen Byram, D, age 19.

Season 12: Cole Perfetti, LW, age 18.

Trade History

Season 2

Traded Nicklas Kronwall to Athens for Michal Rozsival and 2014 Round 1 pick (used to pick Justin Schultz)

Traded Nicklas Grossman and 2015 Round 3 pick (Jon Merrill) to Minsk for Andrej Sekera

Traded P-A Parenteau to Oslo for Thomas Vanek

Traded Thomas Vanek and Mike Weaver to Geneva for Justin Williams, Ryan Malone and Jeff Woywitka

Traded Jared Spurgeon to Frankfurt for Josh Gorges

Traded Michal Rozsival and Kyle Palmeiri to Athens for Jared Spurgeon and Nick Johnson

Traded Michael Ryder to Athens for Marcel Hossa

Traded Chad Larose and 2015 Round 2 pick (Alex Stalock) to Milan for Saku Koivu

Traded Joel Armia to Athens for Mark Scheifele

Season 3

Traded Zach Parise to Minsk for Alexander Galchenyuk and Romas Josi

Season 4 

Season 5

Season 6

After Season 6 started: Traded Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to Berlin for David Pastrnak and 2018 Round 1 pick (Dennis Cholowski)

Traded Bryan Little to Stockholm for Marcus Johansson

Traded Tomas Jurco to Stockholm for J.T. Miller and Connor Bleackley

Signed Tomas Plekanec (free agent)

Season 7

Traded Calvin Pickard to Berlin for Aleksander Barkov

Traded Andrey Bykov to Berlin for 2020 Round 1 (Stockholm’s) pick (Ryan Poehling) and 2021 Round 3 pick (Alexander Romanov)

Traded Niko Hovinen to Belfast for Andrey Vasilevskiy, Julius Nattinen, 2019 Round 1 pick (Michael Rasmussen) and 2020 Round 3 (Lisbon’s) pick (Maxim Sushko)

After season started: claimed Trevor Daley (waivers)

Season 8 

Traded Aleksander Barkov to Berlin for Evgeny Kuznetsov and Klim Kostin

Traded David Pastrnak to Belfast for James Neal, Michael Dal Colle, Robert Thomas, 2021 Round 1 pick (Grigori Denisenko), 2022 Round 1 pick (Arthur Kaliyev) and 2021 Round 2 pick (Alec Regula)

Season 9

Traded Justin Schultz and Martin Ruzicka to London for Damon Severson, Jimmie Ericsson and 2021 Round 2 pick (Jared McIsaac)

Season 10

Season 11

Season 12