GM: Jason Haupt
Coach: Rod Brind’Amour
Last season: 22nd overall. Did not make the playoffs.
Ins and Outs
(Season 14 to Season 15)
In: Ilya Sorokin (free agent), Rickard Rakell (free agent), Teuvo Teravainen (free agent), Luke Kunin (free agent), Radek Faksa (free agent), Christian Fischer (free agent), Mikhail Grigorenko (free agent), Nejc Kastelic (free agent), Matthias Asperup (free agent), Mackenzie Blackwood (free agent), Alexey Toropchenko (free agent), Travis Dermott (free agent), Sander Engebraten (free agent), Bryce Brodzinski (free agent)
Out: Jordan Eberle (free agent), Frederik Andersen (trade), Philipp Grubauer (trade), Luka Gracnar (trade), Michael Matheson (trade), Tyson Barrie (trade), Nikita Kucherov (trade), Kevin Fiala (trade), Jacob Josefson (free agent), Marcus Foligno (free agent), Daniel Fernholm (free agent), Mike Hoffman (free agent), Max Pacioretty (free agent), Patric Hornquist (free agent), Marek Daloga (free agent),
Potential Lineup
Olli Palola/Dylan Sikura/Teuvo Teravainen
Rickard Rakell/Radek Faksa/Christian Fischer
Andrei Svechnikov/Mikhail Grigorenko/Alexey Toropchenko
Matthias Asperup/Jack Hughes/Oliver Wahlstrom
Ryan Murray/Adam Fox
Travis Dermott/Oscar Klefbom
Danilo Tomasevic/Rasmus Sandin
Ilya Sorokin/Mackenzie Blackwood
Three Questions
1. Why did Gothenburg plummet in the standings? In Gothenburg’s Season 14, pieces were shifted in trades and it was like a game of Jenga gone wrong. The tower collapsed. The Fronlunda placed 22nd in the league. Who knows what pieces were previously critical to the team that finished 9th in the league in Season 13. For whatever reason, it happened. So, this off season, General Manager Jason Haupt swept most of the remaining pieces off the table and started building a new tower. Fifteen Frolunda players became former Frolunda players. One of them was Jordan Eberle, who spent 14 years with Gothenburg and was an all-star for them 7 times. The winger enters Season 15 on the other side of Sweden in Stockholm just 26 points shy of the 1,000 point plateau. He did all that scoring for Gothenburg against all odds. What do we mean by that? If you looked at the league’s “On The Market” section in the Trades area, you will see that Eberle had been on the on the trade block since Sept. 26, 2012. It’s 2023! Nowadays, Gothenburg looks like a young man’s club in the dressing room. We see lots of high PO ratings on this roster, including Adam Fox (89), Andrei Svechnikov (88) and Jack Hughes (86). Two of the brightest stars on the Frolunda’s horizon have yet to play game for them. This year, Haupt drafted an exciting young defenseman with the 4th overall pick who could play for them on opening day. Serbian Danilo Tomasevic has great offensive skills. And one of the team’s prospects is panning out pretty nicely. Pyotr Kochetkov, a goalie, had a good rookie season in the NHL with Carolina and he could also be in the lineup this season.
2. So what talent was brought in for the short-term? Gothenburg already had a good top line – well two-thirds of a line – and a good top defense pairing. What was it with Swedish teams this off season? Stockholm needed a RW for Jack Eichel and Nikolaj Ehlers, and Gothenburg needed a RW to play with Dylan Sikura and Olli Palola. Teuvo Teravainen, who like Palola is Finnish, got the job. The three have major wheels and they all love to pass the puck. But who is go to pull the trigger and shoot on this line? Look for their defensemen – Adam Fox and Ryan Murray – to get a lot of clean shots on goal this season. Haupt needs some of the other people he brought in to make a difference on the lines that get less ice time. Radek Faksa, Rickard Rakell and Christian Fischer, for example, if they play together, will be looked at to lift the team. That’s a lot of pressure to put on a few guys, but they were signed to long-term deals for a reason.
3. What are they best at? If you look over the attributes on the Gothenburg team, you might notice they don’t seem deficient in any one category, even in strength, which is a category in which the vast majority of teams have trouble keeping pace. And speaking of pace, the Frolunda are a fast skating team with good intensity. Your team will be tired, sore and maybe bruised after they play Gothenburg. But their best collective attribute is passing. They should be able to move the puck around very well. Dylan Sikura led the team in assists last year with 45, but only one other forward had more than 28 helpers. That’s a head-scratcher with this group. The team was the third-lowest scoring team in the EURO last season and they had the second-worst power play. But their shots per game average wasn’t terrible. Maybe they need a couple more pure snipers.
Rose’s Focus
“I have never met Gothenburg General Manager Jason Haupt in person but when I do, I will be on my best behavior. I want him to like me. Why? Because he seems like a very generous person and I like money and gifts. The GM has shown a tendency to give free agents long-term security – albeit with modest salaries – and he was willing to eat $7 million in salaries this season in three trades he made. Next season, he’s going to need two pickup trucks of money to give Adam Fox and Andrei Svechnikov the raises they will surely ask for. I think the top of the team’s purse is going to get tighter once Fox and Svechnikov are signed, so before that happens, I would definitely like to … snuggle up to him, shall we say?
