GM: Steve Stringer
Coach: Andrew Brunette
Last season: 11th overall. In playoffs, defeated Belfast; lost to Helsinki
Ins and Outs
(Season 13 to Season 14)
In: Zach Bogosian (trade), Travis Hamonic (free agency), Nick Leddy (free agent), Alexander Ovechkin (free agent), Alexandre Carrier (draft), Logan Stankoven (draft), Emil Andrae (draft), Martin Chromiak (draft)
Out: Oliver Ekman-Larsson (trade), Rasmus Ristolainen (free agent), Jake Muzzin (free agent), Brad Marchand (free agent), Mike Hoffman (free agency),
Potential Lineup
Nazem Kadri/Matt Duchene/William Nylander
Brandon Saad/Jonathan Huberdeau/Elias Pettersson
Alexander Ovechkin/Pierre-Luc Dubois/Curtis Lazar
Calvin Thurkauf/Cody Eakin/Tomas Zaborsky
Hampus Lindholm/Zach Bogosian
Nick Leddy/Travis Hamonic
Jonas Holos/Olli Malmivaara
Alex Nedeljkovic/Mackenzie Blackwood
Three Questions
1. That was a nice jump in the standings. How did it happen? General Manager Steve Stringer inherited a team that had trouble scoring goals and had even more trouble keeping pucks out of their own net. Dublin was dead last In Season 12. Then , the next season, they jumped to 11th place, made the playoffs, and beat arch-rival Belfast in 6 games in Round 1 before scaring President’s Trophy-winning Helsinki, extending that unsuccessful series to 7 games. The keys to that success were selecting Alex Nedeljkovic with the #2 pick in the draft and cleaning up in the waivers game, relieving Belfast of high-salary stars Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Matt Duchene and Jonathan Huberdeau. OEL ended as the team’s highest scoring defenseman and 10th-best in the EURO, while Duchene and Huberdeau were the No. 1 and 3 highest scorers, respectively, for Dublin. Everyone on the team had a better season last year, especially William Nylander who played a minute less per game than he did in the awful season but still saw his point total go from 62 to 80, his shots total from 180 to 246, and his plus-minus improve from -57 to -19.
2. Will they jump up again? They should. The Guinness Chuggers are absolutely loaded up front with eight forwards – including 4 centers – with OV ratings of 81 or better. They also have Alexis Lafreniere (85 PO rating) and Kappo Kaako (84) on the farm club. The embarrassment of riches is a luxury but it’s also a big jigsaw puzzle for the coach. Who plays best with whom? He can put together dozens of line combinations before he figures out the best ones. It seems all the team’s forwards have great offensive skills. This group doesn’t have as many defensive-thinking forwards as it does offense-first guys, but it has enough to put together two penalty killing units. Center Cody Eakin and wingers Brandon Saad, Tomas Zaborsky and Curtis Lazar have a lot of value in that area, and they could help give occasional breathers to top centers Duchene and Huberdeau, who also kill penalties for the team.
3. What do the Chuggers need to worry about? Defense is not a concern this season, but it will be soon enough for the management team. The Guinness Chuggers don’t have many under-30 defensemen signed long-term. Rasmus Ristolainen was allowed to leave the team as a Type 2 free agent and he could have been a fixture in Ireland. But this year’s defense corps is stacked. GM Steve Stringer used free agency to get top-level talent on his blueline. Five of the six spots are filled by players with 80 or higher OV ratings. Unless Stringer decides to trade away some of his forward gems to create a long-term solution, free agency looks like the plan to fill the blueline spots annually from now on. But the Guinness Chuggers are good as long as the legs of Zach Bogosian, Nick Leddy and Travis Hamonic can hold out for two more years.
Rose’s Focus
“Everyone knows Matt Duchene and Jonathan Huberdeau are excellent centers who will have success for Dublin. I am more interested in what’s behind them. And I mean that in two different ways (wink, wink, nudge nudge). Dublin has all kinds of flexibility in making line combos, so I am not sure what to expect to see on any of their lines, really. It will be an interesting exercise for the coach. Elias Pettersson will be one of the best players in this league someday soon and he might be playing on Dublin’s first line. Or on the second line … or on the third line along with Pierre-Luc Dubois and maybe Calvin Thurkauf, who will also be excellent players once they gain some experience and ice time. They are 24 and 25 years of age, and when I watch them, I will be peering into Dublin’s future.”
