GM: Guybrush Threepwood
Coach: Adam Oates
Last season: 1st overall. In playoffs, defeated Bratislava; defeated Madrid; lost to Paris
Ins and Outs
(Season 14 to Season 15)
In: Ryan Strome (trade), P.K. Subban (free agent), Loic Lamperier (free agent), Sean Couturier (free agent), Vladimir Tarasenko (free agent), Lawson Crouse (free agent)
Out: Morgan Rielly (free agent), Eliezer Sherbatov (free agent), Shea Weber (free agent), Jonas Enroth (retired), Miles Wood (free agent), Gaeten Haas (free agent),
Potential Lineup
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins/Aleksander Barkov/Vadim Shipachyov
Artturi Lehkonen/Sean Couturier/Ryan Strome
Tyler Toffoli/Loic Lamperier/Vladimir Tarasenko
Jake Virtanen/Ryan Hartman/Travis Konecny
Staffan Kronwall/P.K. Subban
Kris Letang/Roger Karrer
Filip Hronek/Dante Fabbro
Calvin Pickard/Jonas Johansson
Three Questions
1. How are the Smurfs different this season? The powerful little Smurfs look a little older and there are some new faces. It will be interesting to see how the lineup looks this season as they recover from a loss in the playoffs to Paris. General Manager Guybrush Threepwood seems to be angry these days, and we all know what happens when Smurfs get angry. How angry is he? He signed P.K. Subban as a free agent. Subban is the all-time leader in penalty minutes in the league. Who is second all-time? Staffan Kronwall of the Smurfs, that’s who. And there is a chance the pair of them could make up a defense duo in Berlin now. Oddsmakers are taking bets on whether they could finish a shift without one of them being sent to the box. The Subban signing was representative of how Berlin patched its holes this off season. Proven veterans were the Band-Aids. Ryan Strome was acquired in a trade, while Sean Couturier, Loic Lamperier and Vladimir Tarasenko came in as free agents.
2. Where to they need to improve? In short, they are a great team. They should challenge for the Cup yet again. Berlin should have three dangerous forward lines, which is a luxury not many teams have, plus a strong fourth line. But as off season started, cracks in the Berlin machine started to become evident. Eliezer Sherbatov announced he was going to look elsewhere for employment. “A serious man can only take so much booze and women,” he said. Erik Forssell, walking by some of the statues of him erected in Berlin, said “I can’t believe he (Guybrush Threepwood) blew it for us last season. We could have had our third straight Cup. The playoffs was not the time to cut back on alcohol. He should have known that.” Right now, team dissension is Berlin’s biggest enemy. Bringing in the flamboyant P.K. Subban is not going to help matters.
3. What does the long-term future of the team look like? Guybrush Threepwood has proven he’s not just an accomplished drunk and womanizer, he’s also good at hockey management. And he has an eye for prospects. Two of his prospects played very well this season for the Nashville Predators (Luke Evangelista) and Chicago Blackhawks (Lukas Reichel) but they probably came short of the required games needed to get Websim attributes. That number fluctuates from NHL season to NHL season, and Threepwood would love to see both of them graduate into the team now. But if they don’t, he will watch next season to see if they can do as well in more games. Carolina Hurricanes forward Jack Drury got into enough games, but as a fourth-liner, he didn’t do too well. The 23-year-old’s attributes should be uninspiring. But the story is much different for 20-year-defenseman Jake Sanderson. He played the entire season for the Ottawa Senators and will get a very high PO rating. He should be the anchor of future Smurf teams. There are no promising young forwards or goalies on the team right now. On defense, Roger Karrer and Dante Fabbro are 25 and Filip Hronek is 26. With Sanderson, Berlin fans should feel secure about the blueline for a while. As for the other parts of the roster, it looks like Threepwood will have to try to stay sober during the free agent frenzies of the future.
Rose’s Focus
“Is it possible one of the league’s best centers in the league will be moved to the wing this season? Yes. The line of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Vadim Shipachyov and Eli Sherbatov was one of the best in years in the EURO League, but it is no more. Sherbatov is learning Spanish as a member of the Madrid Royals this season. Artturi Lehkonen could take his place, but boy, the pressure on him would be enormous. If Adam Oates returns as coach, he could do some shuffling and move Nugent-Hopkins to the wing and bring Aleksander Barkov to the center of the top line. Barkov has been dying for a chance at top line minutes. Last season, at 17 minutes a game, he scored 99 points and took 248 shots. Imagine him with 23 or 24 minutes per game. I’ll make him the MVP favorite if he plays on the top line this season.”
