GM: Ben Stuller
Coach: John Stevens
Last season: 19th place overall; did not make playoffs
Ins and Outs
(Season 12 to Season 13)
In: Steven Stamkos (free agent), Nicklas Backstrom (free agent), Artemy Panarin (free agent), Simeon Varlamov (free agent), Andrew Ladd (free agent), Milan Lucic (free agent), T.J. Brennan (free agent), Jason Dickinson (waiver), Brandon Davidson (waiver)
Out: Alexander Ovechkin (free agent), Ilya Kovalchuk (retired), Dustin Byfuglien (free agent), Cody Eakin (free agent), Yegor Milovzorov (free agent), Denis Gribko (free agent), Roman Lyubimov (free agent),
Potential Lineup
Matias Sjogren/Sergei Mozyakin/Steven Stamkos
Milan Lucic/Brandon Sutter/Patrik Laine
Artemy Panarin/Nicklas Backstrom/Gustav Nyquist
Andrew Ladd/Jason Dickinson/Jakub Vrana
John Klingberg/Shayne Gostisbehere
Nikita Zaitsev/Nikita Zadorov
Philip Larsen/T.J. Brennan
Simeon Varlamov/Alex Stalock
Three Questions
1. How can the Krasnyye Zvezdy jump up some places in the standings? St. Pete was 13th in the league in scoring but 18th in defense. Let’s start there. Incumbent goalies Alex Stalock and Anton Khodobin are good enough, but they are in terrible shape (53 and 55 stamina ratings with bad durability ratings). They should have spent the off season working out, but apparently, they didn’t. Simeon Varlamov, the 35-year-old Russian goalie who spent the last three seasons with Minsk, DID stay in good shape. He must be one of those health food nut/gym rat guys. So GM Ben Stuller signed him to a contract in the off season and will plug him into the lineup as the main starter. The defense in front of him features two magnificent puck movers in Shayne Gostisbehere and John Klingberg, but the team will need more defense-first mentality to keep the goalies from getting tired out. Defense-oriented winger Mattias Sjogren will play a major role in that regard. He can really play defensive hockey.
2. How many of the six forwards Petrograd just acquired will play? For a while, we thought we were going to see young guns Dylan Cozens and Drake Batherson get into the lineup, but free agency changed that. And we assumed the Krasnyye Zvezdy would keep Brandon Sutter between Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar on what was their best plus/minus line last season. But then Steven Stamkos came to Russia. And Nicklas Backstrom, Artemy Panarin, Milan Lucic, Andrew Ladd and – off waivers – defensive specialist Jason Dickinson. Suddenly, St. Petersburg had a new direction. Center Sergei Mozyakin is in his prime and his RW Patrik Laine scored 26 goals as a rookie and then followed that up with four seasons of between 34 and 38 goals. The Finn can really put pucks behind goalies. The scary part for defenses is that he is just 24 years old this season. That’s about the time most players blossom. There aren’t many people who can bump Laine down to the second line, but when you bring in the league’s second all-time leading scorer, well … you can write “Stamkos” in pen at the top of your lineup sheet from now on. Laine will have to make do with either Backstrom or Brandon Sutter as his new center. The way Coach John Stevens has his preliminary lineup set, there is a decent defensive forward on the first (Mattias Sjogren), second (Sutter) and fourth lines (Dickinson) and those guys could protect the team from odd-man rushes. The third line features three veterans (Panarin, Backstrom and Nyquist) who think offense first but have good reputations for responsible defensive play too. Stevens’ forward arrangement will go a long way toward addressing the problem we mentioned above.
3. What does the far-off future look like? In the trade that sent Juuse Saros to Portugal, St. Petersburg acquired Vitali Kravtsov and Lisbon’s first-rounder in the next draft, which will give them two good players in that round. Right now, the team is jam-packed with prospects who give Krasnyye Zvezdy fans gallons of optimism. If the Red Stars get some luck, they could have a huge influx of low-priced talent shipping in over the next couple of seasons. On defense, Victor Soderstrom, Owen Power, Kaiden Guhle and Tobias Bjornfot are all expected to play NHL minutes, although defensemen typically take longer to get into the league than forwards. Up front, Kravtsov is expected to get his Websim attributes this season with the New York Rangers. That will have GM Ben Stuller checking out Rangers stats for a few months. Lucas Raymond, Morgan Frost, and Rasmus Kupari won’t be far behind Kravtsov. 18-year-old Isaac Rosen is a high first-round pick and they usually end up as Websim players. Those five forwards will be nice additions to the team, if Stuller gets some luck. And maybe he’ll get even more luck with his prospects and someone like free agent Evgeni Svechnikov, Taylor Raddysh in Tampa, or Bobby Brink in Philadelphia will pan out better than expected and help the Red Stars even more.
Rose’s Focus
“I will anxiously await the sight of someone from another team skating slowly to the penalty box, either shaking his head, looking up at the Jumbotron or yelling at the ref. Why? because that means I will be about to see the St. Petersburg powerplay go to work. Or go to town. Whatever the saying is. See? I’m so excited I’m forgetting my colloquial phrases. Sergei Mozyakin is 30 years old and at the top of his game as a guy who could be top center on almost any team. In the last three seasons, he has scored at least 30 goals and 90 points each time with sniper Patrik Laine on his right wing. Now he will be feeding pucks to Steven Stamkos on the top line. And on powerplays, he will be setting the thing on a platter for both of them. With Shayne Gostisbehere and John Klingberg at the points. This is gonna be good.”
