GM: Eigil Tennes
Coach: Willie Desjardins
Last season: 20th overall. Did not make playoffs.
Ins and Outs
(Season 12 to Season 13)
In: Kristian Kuusela (free agent), Dmitry Orlov (free agent), Tuukka Rask (free agent), Stanislav Galimov (trade), Jordan Schroeder (free agent), Maxime Comtois (Season 9 draft)
Out: Patrick Kane (free agent), Nicklas Backstrom (free agent), Darnell Nurse (free agent), James Van Riemsdyk (free agent), Andrew Ladd (free agent), Peter Mueller (free agent), Jakub Kindl (retired)
Potential Lineup
Sebastian Aho/Mika Zibanejad/Mark Stone
Andrey Bykov/Nico Hischier/Kristian Kuusela
Max Comtois/Jordan Schroeder/Matthias Asperup
Oleg Sislannikovs/Adam Gaudette/Kevin Bozon
Dmitry Kulikov/John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov/Rasmus Dahlin
Simon Despres/Jake Dotchin
Tuukka Rask/Chris Driedger
Three Questions
1. What is Bern’s strength? The Interrail need to improve almost everywhere. The special teams units especially need to improve because they were both ranked 23rd out of 24 teams last season. As a team, Bern scores too little and gives up goals too often. But within the team stats are two bright rays of hope. When you rank the teams by goals for and against, Bern comes up 18th and 21st. Not good. But here is the intriguing part: rank the teams by shots for and shots against and the Interrail are way up the lists. The rank 6th in shots and 9th best in shots against. Those are both good numbers that indicate Bern usually controls play in their games. If this was pro soccer, their possession rate would better than their opponents most of the time. They just need better finishing and better goaltending, the numbers lead you to believe. New GM Eigil Tennes definitely took steps to address the goalie problem. While he resigned legend Tuukka Rask to another year to see if he can turn around his poor performance from last year, he also drafted young Chris Driedger and traded for Stanislav Galimov. They will be given the crease if Rask fails again.
2. Where will the goals come from? First off, look for a few more goals coming from the blueline, especially when the second pairing is out there. Rasmus Dahlin is entering his 4th year in the league and you are hereby advised to place bets on him improving his offensive totals with free agent veteran Dmitry Orlov as his new partner. Orlov, the second Dmitry on the Interrail blueline (Kulikov is the other) scored 10 goals a season ago in Lisbon and 10 the year before in St. Petersburg. Up front, Bern has ample creativity and talent on the top two lines. Last season, five forwards scored more than 20 goals. They are going to need a couple of them to get over 30 if they want to make the playoffs in this league. Andrey Bykov used to be a consistent 30-goal scorer for the team but he faltered last season, only notching 23. Look for Sebastian Aho to occupy Bykov’s usual spot on the top line this season. Either of them should be dynamite with skillful Mika Zibanejad and Mark Stone as their linemates. And the second line looks good too with clever Nico Hischier and energetic newcomer Kristian Kuusela. But there will be a dropoff when you hit line 3 and then line 4. That’s where Bern are expected to struggle this season.
3. They had some really high draft picks a few years ago. What happened to those guys? Center Nico Hischier and defenseman Rasmus Dahlin both went second overall in the Season 8 and 10 drafts to Bern and they remain as the main supports of the team that is still building in central Switzerland. But they are not the only young guns to keep an eye on as the seasons go on. In Season 6, Bern grabbed Mark Stone No. 1 overall and then in the second round took a chance on prospect Sebastian Aho. That gamble really paid off because there is a good chance both Stone and Aho will start the season on the team’s top line this year. And there is Maxoime Comtois, and energetic but injury-prone winger the team grabbed as a prospect in Round 2 of the Season 9 draft. He seems to have made the starting lineup as well this season, making him one of 3 forwards on the team who are 25 or younger with PO ratings of 86 or higher. Danish winger Matthias Asperup has been a pleasant surprise and he has developed nicely into an 80 PO at 23 years of age. GM Eigil Tennes will be hoping some of the 13 prospects already in the system develop like Aho and Comtois did. The most likely are forwards Alex Turcotte and Jack Quinn, as well as defensemen Thomas Harley and Scott Perunovich.
Rose’s Focus
“This season, Bern needs John Carlson to play more like John Carlson and less like Johnny Carson. He needs to get more serious, I mean. Yes, he’s 33 but that doesn’t mean you necessarily HAVE to slow down. If you can’t be 23, at least think 23. Look at me. I’m more than twice his age – way more – and I still find time to go to work, bake, garden and meet my friends for bingo every Wednesday. And on occasion, I go out looking for widower talent, if you know what I mean. Carlson’s goal production has dropped from 19 in Season 9 to just 8 last season. Bern people pay good money to see him drive the offense and he stopped doing that last season.”
