Season 12: 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: 7th overall (In playoffs, defeated Athens, then defeated Milan, then lost to Berlin)

Ins and Outs (Season 11 to Season 12)

Out: Jonathan Toews (free agent), Tyler Myers (free agent), Tyler Toffoli (free agent), Michael Stone (free agent), Marco Scandella (free agent), Milan Gulas (free agent), Marek Daloga (free agent), Josh Gorges (free agent), Leonardo Genoni (free agent), Ryan Getzlaf (free agent), Matt Fraser (free agent)

In: Justin Faulk (free agent), Ryan McDonagh (free agent), Ossi Vaananen (free agent), Milan Gulas (waivers), Kjetil Martinsen (free agent), Blake Coleman (waivers), Joakim Nygard (waivers)

In Place

(Key players signed past Season 12)

Frederik Andersen, G; Connor Hellebuyck, G; Zemgus Girgensons, LW; Morten Madsen, C; Troy Loggins, C

Three Questions

Five starters bolted. What’s the plan? Losing to Berlin in the conference finals was more than the face of the franchise could take. Jonathan Toews was ready to play outstanding hockey elsewhere. He and fellow starters Michael Stone, Tyler Toffoli and Tyler Myers were also important parts of the team for years and all for opted for the free agent market rather than giving it another try with Lindy Ruff. Bratislava was able to fill two of those big holes with free agent defensemen Justin Faulk and Ryan McDonagh, but the loss of Toews and Toffoli from the top line looms as a dark shadow over Season 12. Both men were all-stars last season and they scored 32 and 35 goals and were +12 and +15.
Then someone will have to step up in the goal scoring department, right? You are correct. Bratislava knows no one can replace the offense that Toews and Toffoli provided, but they are pushing former Rookie of the Year Troy Loggins and a couple of left wings into roster spots that might be over their heads. Loggins is 25 and his point total went up 12 last season from the 46 he tallied to win the rookie trophy in Season 10. First line duty is quite a lot to ask of a player who doesn’t have a single attribute higher than his 84 faceoff rating. Left wingers Evgeni Solomonov and Gregory Beron will also look out of place on line 1, but the plan is for both of them to get shifts with Loggins and right wing Kristian Kuusela. None of those three wingers are used to playing 20 minutes per game, but still, Ruff will play them that much. The coach is hoping Btaislava’s good depth on the other lines makes up for deficiencies on the top line.
They look like they will be better on defense this year. Is that how you see it? If the offense is able to maintain the puck in the other team’s end to produce 29 or more shots per game, that will allow the defense some breathing room and if that happens, the Eagles might improve upon their 6th-best goals against average from last year. Frederik Andersen is 32 and is starting his 8th season as a starter in this league, and he’s two years past winning the Best Goalie trophy. The addition of veteran defensemen Justin Faulk and Ryan McDonagh – both 3-time all-stars – makes their defense corps better than it was last season and Ruff is very excited about that. Bratislava has never had fewer defense-minded forwards as it does now, and they consider the play of the new checking line of Zemgus Girgensons, Morten Madsen and Daniel Pietta to be critical to making the playoffs.

History

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

Season 1 8 95 16.4 81.0 30.17 29.01 3.45 3.22 9.22

Season 2 6 101 18.3 82.7 31.43 26.76 3.57 3.28 11.67

Season 3 11 91 15.4 83.8 30.82 26.94 3.51 3.35 11.12

Season 4 11 93 17.3 77.1 33.94 27.01 3.71 3.50 11.93

Season 5 9 95 16.7 83.2 31.48 27.62 3.33 3.11 8.54

Season 6 13 88 17.9 81.5 30.70 27.52 3.20 3.13 9.20

Season 7 3 114 23.7 84.8 34.71 24.73 3.66 2.63 8.32

Season 8 3 115 20.7 82.8 32.37 26.71 3.67 2.74 7.12

Season 9 13 91 22.8 79.8 32.13 26.46 3.59 3.39 6.63

Season 10 5 106 14.7 83.3 30.56 28.88 3.38 2.70 9.76

Season 11 7 100 17.6 84.1 30.68 28.79 3.43 2.85 9.39

Top Draft picks

Season 1: Jonathan Toews, C, current age 34. Games played: 867; points: 1,015; +120

Season 2: Milan Gulas, C, age 34. GP 693; Pts 429; +96

Season 3: Michael Stone, D, age 31. GP 570; Pts 215; +151

Season 4: Zemgus Girgensens, C, age 27. GP 498; Pts 230; +86

Season 5: Morten Madsen, C, age 29. GP 243, Pts 139, +49

Season 6: Dylan Strome, C, age 23. GP 82; Pts 39; -6

Season 7: Connor Hellebuyck, G, age 27. GP 108, save pct. 88.6

Season 8: Mike Matheson, D, age 26. GP 309, Pts 118; +37

Season 9: Michal Kristof, C, age 25. GP 81; Pts 30; +11

Season 10: Nicolas Beaudin, D, age 21.

Season 11: Spencer Knight, G, age 19.

Season 12: Victor Olofsson, RW, age 24.

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