GM: Jukka Tuominen
Coach: Brent Sutter
Last season: 1st overall. In playoffs, defeated Oslo; defeated Dublin; defeated Minsk; lost to Berlin in Cup Finals
Ins and Outs
(Season 13 to Season 14)
In: Jeremi Gerber (draft), Mads Eller (free agent), Jacob De La Rose (free agent), Jacbob Middleton (free agent), Jon Merrill (free agent), Lukas Cormier (draft)
Out: Zach Bogosian (trade), Jonathan Toews (free agent), Cory Perry (retired), Sebastian Uvira (free agent), Dustin Byfuglien (retired), Jakub Petruzalek (free agent), Jack Johnson (free agent), David Krejci (free agent), Tan Hellerod (free agent), Mark Pysyk (free agent), Slater Koekkoek (free agent), Taylor Fedun (free agent), Juho Lammikko (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Brendan Gallagher/Anze Kopitar/Taylor Hall
Kyle Connor/Sam Bennett/Brock Boeser
Alex Debrincat/Jesperi Kotkaniemi/Charlie Coyle
Jacob De La Rose/Mads Eller/John Hayden
Nerius Alisauskas/Matt Dumba
Lorenzo Maas/Jacob Middleton
Henri Jokiharju/Noah Dobson
Karri Ramo/Alexander Georgiev
Three Questions
1. Will the Jokerit finally bring the Cup to Finland? You will have to ask Rose. She’s the one who seems to be able to see into the future. Helsinki finished first in the regular season by 2 points last year; and first by a point the season before; and they finished first by 8 points the season before that under GM Jukka Tuominen’s guidance. But Cups? Zero. Copenhagen and Berlin took those and even the Jokerit are having trouble finding the humor in that. Two big parts of the Helsinki team are missing this year – Jonathan Toews and Zach Bogosian – and while their replacements are also good players, they might be downgrades. But have no fear Jokerit fans, most of the bright lineup consists of players under 30, so there is every reason to believe they have added muscle mass and brain power in the off season. In Season 13, Helsinki tied Copenhagen in goal scoring at the top of the league team stats and they had the 4th best goals against average. They were 3rd in both shots for and shots allowed per game and their powerplay was the best in the league. Helsinki will be strong again this season, for sure, and they have the talent to win it all. But we’ve said that before.
2. Which players make this team so good? Starting with Karri Ramo in goal, the Jokerit’s starting six players are all-star caliber and the No. 2 forward line has some real bright stars on it. Ramo, the Finnish goalie who came over from Lisbon, has won 53 games two seasons in a row with save percentages of 91.5 and 90.1. Super defenseman Nerius Alisauskas is in his prime and has scored 110 points over the last two seasons, playing with plus-minus god Zach Bogosian as his partner. Mathew Dumba will try to replace Bogosian as Alisauskas’ partner and a lot of people – most importantly Rose – think he will not look out of place. Up front, it was the line of Taylor Hall, Jonathan Toews and Brendan Gallagher that was relied upon last year to come up with the big goals and all three men had either 37 or 38 goals last year. Toews is gone now and 37-year-old Anze Kopitar will take Toews’ spot on the top line, at least to start the season. Kopitar scored 49 points in 37 games after being reacquired at mid-season. What if he goes down with an injury, though? As the start of Season 14 neared, Helsinki had no reserve center. They also had no 7th defenseman and they had $3.2 million to get those players safely onto the roster without incurring a suspension penalty and losing Brendan Gallagher for a few games due to suspension.
3. What’s Sam Bennett’s role on the team? His job is to get the coach to pull his hair out. And he’s great at his job. The 27-year-old had a terrible start in the league in Season 9, scoring just 10 points. But he was promoted to the third line the next year and produced 44 points, and then 66 the year after. The kid was going places. Season 12 comes along and suddenly Bennett forgot how to play: 9 goals and just 27 points in 75 games. Coach Brent Sutter needed to give Bennett good ice time in Season 13, and he was better than ever, playing clean and scoring 78 points in 82 games mainly with Alex Debrincat and Charlie Coyle on his wings. Then, in the playoffs, more hair pulling for the coach. Bennett went from about a point per game in the regular season to just 11 in 25 games. So now what do you do with him? Previous top center Jonathan Toews is gone now and Anze Kopitar turned 37 during the off season. Jesperi Kotkaniemi doesn’t seem ready at 22 to pass Bennett on the depth chart. Could it be that Sutter will play Bennett on the – gulp – first line? It might be that the streaky Bennett is the key to this team’s season.
Rose’s Focus
“Defense is important to this team. Especially in the Northern Conference where teams go 100 mph. Zach Bogosian leaving could be a big deal. I think the Swede Oliver Ekman-Larsson turned down a deal to play for the Jokerit, although I’m not positive of that. If that’s what happened, that had to be painful or GM Jukka Tuominen. I’m looking for Mathew Dumba to be the next big deal in Helsinki. He is 29, classified as an offensive defenseman, has a booming slapshot and scored he 18 goals last season. And even on the second pair, he piled up the plus-minis rating (+43 and +44 the season before). What I like about him is his turnover ratios. In his 7 seasons as a full-time player his only two negative seasons were -2 and -3. He cares about defense. He will get more ice time this season, probably score 25 goals and not hurt the team. And he’ll be my favorite player in Helsinki. Someone find out his jacket size. I want to knit him a nice sweater.”
