GM: Delwin Y
Coach: Mike Babcock
Last season: 12th overall. In playoffs, lost to Helsinki.
Ins and Outs
(Season 12 to Season 13)
In: Patrick Kane (free agent), Jakob Voracek (free agent), Eric Gelinas (free agent), J.T. Miller (free agent), Jeremy Lauzon (Season 7 draft), Linus Ullmark (Season 7 draft), Giulio Scandella (trade, later waived), Patrick Russell (trade)
Out: Brayden Schenn (free agent), Kyle Okposo (free agent), Jonas Holos (free agent), Cam Fowler (free agent), Derek Ryan (free agent), Blake Wheeler (free agent), David Perron (trade),
Potential Lineup
Jakub Voracek/Jack Eichel/Patrick Kane
Nikolaj Ehlers/J.T. Miller/Michael Grabner
Luke Adam/Jacob Josefson/Matthias Bieber
Adrian Kempe/Sam Steel/Daniel Sprong
Olli Maatta/Brady Skjei
Eric Gelinas/Jared Spurgeon
Roope Laavainen/Karl Alzner
Braden Holtby/Carter Hart
Three Questions
1. Stockholm seems unsettled with its forward lines. Are they? Coach Mike Babcock has some decisions to make with his forwards. Does he keep free agent acquisition Jakub Voracek on the right side to give them a good one-two punch with Voracek and Patrick Kane as right wings, or does he move him to the left wing to construct a line featuring Voracek, Kane and Jack Eichel? The late signing of J.T. MIller complicated things elsewhere in the lineup. Miller can play LW, but he is a great faceoff specialist and maybe should be moved to center. Center Jacob Josefson is also great on faecoffs. Matthias Bieber also plays center, as does Andrei Loktionov and Sam Steel, who won’t develop as fast if he plays on the farm club. So there are two too many centers right now. Several of them can play LW but not RW. That means Voracek might have to stay on the right wing. The coach has many different cards he can play with this lineup. It’s what they call a “good problem.” One thing is sure though. Eichel deserves the most ice time. Whether his wings are Nikolaj Ehlers and Voracek, or Kane and Miller, or some mix of the above, he will put up all-star caliber numbers. Last season as a 25-year-old Eichel scored 30 goals and equaled his career high (through 7 seasons) of 81 points. The biggest strides he took in Season 12 were on the defensive side of the puck. His 80 shot blocks was 6th best among EURO forwards and 14 higher than his previous best; and his 140 takeaways (to 116 giveaways) were much better than his previous best.
2. How about the goaltending? Braden Holtby has been the starting goalie in Stockholm since Season 4 and he has almost always produced a winning record. Management rewarded the 33-year-old in the off season with a nice $7.75 million contract and he will once again guard the goal and provide on-ice mentorship for Carter Hart. Holtby has put together 7 straight years of 90 or better save percentage and last season, his average was a really nice 90.9, which was 4th best in the league. He is also ranked 5th all-time in the league in that stat category. So, undoubtedly, Stockholm’s goaltending is in good hands for the moment and Hart looks like he will be able to take the baton from Holtby someday without a stutter.
3. What’s that we see in the team stats? We don’t know how they spell OMG in Swedish, but OMG! No team was worse last year at helping their goalie. Stockholm gave up 33.6 shots a game. That was bad. Better team defense, please. They could get it this season from an unlikely source. Free agent acquisition Patrick Kane has been known as a flashy offensive winger, but of everyone in the starting lineup, he has the best defensive attribute (93). But Kane is now 35 years old and his intensity has waned in recent years. You won’t see him backchecking late in a shift. Among the defensemen, Finn Olli Maatta is definitely the best of the bunch. He has been counted on to provide offense from the back and last season he led the group with 43 points. Jonas Holos and Cam Fowler were next on that list and both are gone now. For Maatta to be able to pay more attention to defense, he is going to need teammates Brady Skjei and Eric Gelinas to contribute more offense. Both are trending in the right direction, having posted career highs last season. Skjei scored 28 points with Fowler as his partner and Gelinas had 38 with Geneva, his third season as a General. Karl Alzner, a veteran on Stockholm’s bottom pair, could prove to be a valuable guy because defensive play is what he’s good at and team defense is such a vital need in Stockholm.
Rose’s Focus
“While I will be interested in seeing if Nikolaj Ehlers has a breakout season, I am more intrigued by Jacob Josefson. I took a liking to him in Season 10. That’s when, after 9 seasons as a defensive specialist in Minsk, he was asked by the Hussars to do what Nicklas Backstrom and Jordan Staal did before him and be the prime jewel of the offense as first-line center. The Little Engine That Could responded with a 93-point season. The next season, he was poor defensively for the first time in his career and Minsk let him go. In Season 12, he learned from his mistakes and was an excellent defensive forward on a bad defensive team. He’s the kind of guy you root for. At least I will root for him. In fact, I think I will crochet him a nice blanket. The last time I crocheted one it was for Miss Slovakia after the Gustl kidnapping (https://eurohockeyleague.wordpress.com/2015/03/06/gustl-rescued-by-miss-slovakia/) but somehow it disappeared off my desk when Sepp Blatter, the commissioner and I were the only ones in the office. I never did find out who took it.”
