GM: Peter Ott
Coach: Doug Weight
Last season: 23rd overall. Missed playoffs
Ins and Outs
(Season 13 to Season 14)
In: Matteo Gennaro (draft), Shai Buium (draft), Aleksi Heimosalmi (draft)
Out: Maxim Sushko (free agency), Jakub Jerabek (free agent),
Potential Lineup
Alex Galchenyuk/Mark Scheifele/Jimmie Ericsson
Nail Yakupov/Miro Aaltonen/Evgeny Kuznetsov
Brady Tkachuk/Alexandre Texier/Robert Thomas
Michael Rasmussen/Nicolas Roy/Arthur Kaliyev
Torey Krug/Victor Roth
Miro Heiskanen/Mikhail Sergachev
Alexander Romanov/Dennis Cholowski
Andrey Vasilevskiy/Anton Forsberg
Three Questions
1. Prague should not be at the bottom of the standings, should they? It’s hard to see why the Spartans fell from 14th to 23rd place in a year. Yes, their goals against average and their penalty killing was the worst in the league, but still, Andrey Vasilevskiy is no slouch of a goalie. His workload could increase a little, but his save percentage hasn’t instilled a ton of confidence and we can see why it seemed smarter to limit him to 52 games in each of the last two seasons. Maybe the defensemen don’t have what it takes to protect him. Or perhaps the forwards don’t enjoy coming back to help the defensemen. It seems the lineup is as good as half the teams and better than a lot. We can’t figure out why they allow so many goals. It could be the playing style they employed under Coach Bruce Cassidy. We will see if he makes any adjustments this season or if Prague has a new boss behind the bench when the season opens.
2. How good is the defense corps? Young but pretty good. Bowen Byram didn’t get his Websim attributes this season but he will force himself into the lineup in the next two or three seasons. By then, he will make a nice nucleus with Miro Heiskanen, Mikhail Sergachev, Alexander Romanov and Dave Cholowski. all of them are 24 or younger this season. But let’s talk about now. Torey Krug and Victor Roth are the leaders back there and both are close to 30. Krug has played for the team for 10 seasons and in all but one of them has had a positive turnover ratio. He also is a big contributor to the offense with 10 or more goals in nine of his 10 seasons. His partner, Roth, is more physical with 204 hits last season (25th in the league) and he is coming off his best offensive season with 42 points. When someone gets hurt, offensive-minded Damon Severson will step up from the farm club. Severson is a powerful skater but his defensive game isn’t good enough to make him a regular starter on this team.
3. And the forwards? How will they be? If you consider they have Brady Tkachuk and Robert Thomas playing on the third line; Matt Nieto and Chris Tierney on the farm club; and Cole Perfetti and Grigori Denisenko still as prospects, it’s obvious this team has a lot of depth up front. The team would definitely be better with Nieto and Tierney up and Michael Rasmussen and Nicolas Roy down, but Prague spends a lot and the cap won’t allow all those riches to be on display at one time. The top six is a strong group, capable of playing two-way hockey at a high level. Mark Scheifele and Miro Aaltonen give the Spartans a good 1-2 punch at center. But the bottom six will let the team down. They are poor defensively and will spend too much time chasing the other team around. But maybe not. You have younger players in the lineup who are a year older and a year wiser than when we last saw them. If Tkachuk and Thomas can start turning a corner and improve a lot this season, that will put less pressure on the defensemen like Mikhail Sergachev and Miro Heiskanen, and that in turn will help the team make more successful transitions from defense to offense, which should spell more goals and fewer goals against. As always, Prague needs to get breakout seasons from its younger players. But this season, they have something they haven’t in the past and that’s a strong group of 30-something-year-olds in their prime. This could be a good season in Czechia.
Rose’s Focus
“I kind of wish I was Prague General Manager Peter Ott’s girlfriend. He does not mind spending money. Expensive gifts like perfume and jewelry always put me in a good mood. His hockey team is very tight to the salary cap and in fact, at least three players who I’m sure Peter would like to see on the ice have to wait on the farm this season. Plus, 14 of Prague’s contracts carry team options … to zero player options. The ability to choose whether you want to keep the players or not after the initial term of the contract comes at a price that pushes the team closer to the cap. Four key 31-year-old Prague players are playing their last seasons of their contract and all have team options on them. Peter and I will be trying to assess whether they should be kept on in Season 15 or sent packing. Maybe Peter and I could watch them play together sometime. Prague fans have grown fond of Nail Yakupov, Mark Scheifele, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jimmie Ericsson and their performances this season will determine whether management is also enamored with them or if Peter and I are the only genuine love affair in Prague.”
