GM: Martin Sayle
Coach: Ken Hitchcock
Last season: 6th overall. In playoffs, defeated Minsk; lost to Helsinki
Ins and Outs
(Season 12 to Season 13)
In: Drew Doughty (free agent), Anthony Beauvillier (free agent), Adam Lowry (trade), K’Andre Miller (Season 10 draft), Brandon Dubinsky (free agent), Nicolas Aube-Kubel (trade), Elvis Merzlikins (free agent), Nils Hoglander (Season 11 draft), Gabe Vilardi (Season 8 draft), Michael McLeod (Season 7 draft)
Out: Emerson Etem (waivers), Slava Voynov (free agent), Radek Faksa (trade), Jared McCann (free agent), Brandon Pirri (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Johnny Gaudreau/Auston Matthews/Marko Dano
Boone Jenner/Vincent Trocheck/Jean-Gabriel Pageau
Anthony Beauvillier/Simon Hjalmarsson/ Joakim Hillding
Nils Hoglander/Adam Lowry/Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Seth Jones/Dougie Hamilton
Victor Hedman/Drew Doughty
Noah Hanifin/Nikita Voles
Andres De La Garma/Elvis Merslikins
Three Questions
1. Did the Tridents get better or worse? If you look at the names of the players that came to the club in the off-season and compare them to the ones who departed, you would think Copenhagen got the better end of the exchanges. Defenseman Drew Doughty in, Slava Voynov out; center Adam Lowry in, Radek Faksa out; left wing Anthony Beauvillier in, Emerson Etem out; …. it’s a close call until you get to goalie Elvis Merzlikins in, Casey DeSmith out. The 26-year-old Latvian looks to be a marked improvement over Desmith and Desmith has been pretty good for the Tridents in his two seasons with the team. In fact, he went 12-1 as a rookie. But Merzlikins is expected to be a good goalie and he might get the team some points in the standings that Desmith couldn’t. We’ll call the off-season an improvement, and that’s before mentioning the fact there are very few older players on the squad, which means most of the team evolved for the better since we saw them last. Back to goalies for a minute, the top guy on the Danish team is still Mexican Andres De La Garma, who has two EURO Cups on his resume. The team “capitan” played 70 games last year for Copenhagen and he has notched more than 40 wins for three straight years.
2. How will they play? The Copenhagen Tridents of recent years have shown an ability to stick together as a team and play hard to the very end. They somehow have an enviable chemistry thing going. That’s part of the reason they have won two Cups in the last three years. A handful of teams are capable of effectively shutting down opposing offenses and Copenhagen is in that elite group. They ranked as the third-stingiest defense in the league last season and there is no reason to think they will suddenly get generous in their own end this season. They play a solid team game and there wasn’t much turnover between seasons. On offense, the Tridents were a real handful. Copenhagen ranked 2nd in shots on goal, behind Belfast and ahead of Helsinki. That’s some rarified air there in the Northern Conference. Most importantly, the team-leading line of Auston Matthews, Marko Dano and Johnny Gaudreau is back and healthy and while they are out on the ice, lines centered by Vincent Trocheck and Simon Hjalmarsson are on the bench ready for their turns and last year, both of those lines played in the +25 neighborhood. Seven Trident forwards scored 50 points or more in Season 12. All these facts signal that the Tridents again will be a top team in the league and often dominant in all three zones of the rink.
3. What do you think worries General Manager Martin Sayle the most? We think it’s the empty space on the salary chart for next season next to some key players’ names. Wingers Johnny Gaudreau, Marko Dano, goalie Andres De La Garma and defenseman Dougie Hamilton are four Tridents who are on the last years of their existing contracts. The defenseman and the goalie could both just up and leave if they want to. The two forwards who have been two-thirds of the team’s successful top line are Type 2 players, so they will stay, as will Noah Hanafin on defense … but they will drain the team bank of a few million more dollars. It’s a worry. Sayle will find satisfaction in the fact he has done a good enough job of drafting prospects that a few of them joined the team this year after good NHL seasons and they brought their dirt cheap contracts with them. K’Andre Miller will play for 5 seasons before he goes over $1.5 million a year. Winger Gabe Vilardi will earn less those five seasons and both are on the cusp of making the big team. Michael McLeod is another winger who joins the roster, although he is a few years from seeing ice time in Copenhagen.
Rose’s Focus
“The Tridents are very good, but let’s keep an eye on them when players from either team are in the penalty box. Some games can be won or lost by the special teams and Copenhagen was only middle of the road last season. Ken Hitchcock admits he and his staff aren’t that great at designing a powerplay plan, so I’ll let him slide there, but I have to blame the players – not the coaching – for the Tridents dropping from 6th to 17th in penalty killing last year. Criminy, in Season 9, they were the best in the league on the PK! Oh, now I’m getting mad. Let’s just say J-G Pageau and Vincent Trocheck – and some defensemen – need to do better if they want to avoid my evil eye.”
