GM: Tony B
Coach: Dan Bylsma
Last season: 11th overall. In playoffs, defeated Geneva; lost to Berlin
Ins and Outs
(Season 14 to Season 15)
In: Filip Forsberg (free agent), Eliezer Sherbatov (free agent), Anthony Mantha (free agent), Sean Monahan (free agent), Denis Malgin (trade), Peter Thome (free agent), Igor Shesterkin (waiver), Jonas Holos (free agent), Troy Stecher (free agent)
Out: Jan Kovar (trade), Rickard Rakell (free agent), Dmitry Orlov (free agent), Filip Sveningsson (free agent), Cody Hodgson (free agent), Marek Hrbas (free agent), Kyle Palmieri (free agent), Michael Hutchinson (free agent), Mike Iulianello (buy out), Jamie McGinn (free agent), Tom Bozon (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Filip Forsberg/Jeff Skinner/Anthony Mantha
Eliezer Sherbatov/Sean Monahan/Spencer Smallman
Henrik Haapala/Nick Bjugstad/Ivan Barbashev
Tyler Bertuzzi/Dominik Pas/Denis Malgin
Jonas Holos/Ethan Bear
Alex Trivellato/Philippe Myers
Ryan Gunderson/Sami Vatanen
Igor Shesterkin/Peter Thome
Three Questions
1. What was the biggest surprise in Spain this off season? Last season, Madrid General Manager Tony B’s pen ran out of ink in the process of signing 15 free agents to the team. When this off season began, 15 regular skaters from last season were back and all but two of them are on the last year of their contracts. In other words, players can expect to be shipped out if they aren’t shaping up in Tony B-land. Then, all of a sudden, Anthony Mantha gets plucked out of the free agent pile and lands a 3-year, no movement, $6 million contract with the Royals. We’re not used to seeing contracts with term in Spain. And after that, the grand prize of free agency, center/wing Filip Forsberg chose to come to Spain for two years and a player option at $9.6 million. Today, there are five forwards with long-term, big-money, no-movement pacts on the team. Back to Mantha: After learning the game with Oslo during the Outlaws’ lean seasons, Mantha spent the last three seasons across the Iberia peninsula with Lisbon. He is 30 now, has a goal-scorer’s knack and he’s a big boy who you aren’t going to be able to shoo away from your net. He has 24 fights in his career, which is 24 more than almost everyone else on the Madrid team. His personal high in goals is 24 (last year). He seems like the perfect guy to plant in front of the net on your power play. Perhaps that’s what GM B has planned for Mantha. Maybe he can open up the goal flood gates with Mantha this season. Forsberg played for a decade in Munich and proved to be a dangerous sniper, hitting the 30-goal mark four times. Jeff Skinner will play between Mantha and Forsberg and he was 13th in the league in scoring and 16th in assists last season.
2. How will the lines and pairs shape up? Coach Dan Bylsma has often shuffled his deck more than most bench bosses. The Royals have a really balanced collection of players. Free agent signings Filip Forsberg and Eli Sherbatov are talented enough to feel assured of top minutes, but almost every other Madrid player has a teammate knocking on their door, ready to take the job and see if they can produce better results. Take defenseman Alex Trivellato for example. His supreme skating ability gives him a chance to play on the top pairing on occasion. But he will just as easily be scratched and watching from the press box. It’s always interesting to watch Bylsma handle his roster.
3. What’s with the goalie position? The Royals’ goalie puzzle is one of the league’s early mysteries. Looking at the roster, everyone would think Nico Hovinen is the best man for the job. No question. But as the season begins, it seems he will be wearing a suit coat and tie more often than a jersey for Madrid games. The problem is money; they can’t fit all the players they want under the cap. Hovinen adds $8.85 million to the payroll. Russian Igor Shesterkin and American Peter Thome combined earn $5 million, so they could get the job. Shesterkin played 52 games for Hanover last season and had a 4.00 goals against average and 87.5 save percentage. He is 27 and has very little league experience. Thome, also 27, was a good backup in Athens for the last five seasons. In his last 33 games over two seasons, his goals against average is about 3.06 – which is really good – and his save percentage is 89.3. So if Hovinen is out, Thome might be the savior in Spain this season. Not many people saw that coming. But Tony B could still get Hovinen into the lineup. It would mean waiving the players he now has on the scratch team, along with one of the other goalies and maybe a fourth-line forward. So this mystery continues like a weird M. Night Shyamalan movie for a while.
Rose’s Focus
“Madrid often shuffles lines, but they are sure to have two excellent forward lines this season. Filip Forsberg with Anthony Mantha and Jeff Skinner will be tough to stop if they form a threesome as expected; and the addition of Eli Sherbatov and Sean Monahan pretty much assures Madrid of having two dangerous lines. I will be looking at players a little down the depth chart to see if they can catapult the Royals up the standings. I’m a little cranky today because of some medical issues that usually affect old people, not younger folk like me. But I am not happy with Madrid’s team defense. Sure the Royals have speed and finesse, but I think playing for 7-5 and 6-4 wins is too stressful on the fans, especially those whose doctors have them on high blood pressure and cholesterol pills, Omeprazole, Azithromycin … what’s this one? Lisinopril … Amlodipine Besylate, whatever that is …. not to mention flu, Covid and shingles vaccines. Madrid games are going to kill me. Give me a little defensive hockey, please. Maybe get Dominik Pas out there every other shift. He’s a good back checker and he had the third-best plus/minus on the team last season. By the way, a pas is a step in dancing, especially in classical ballet. I don’t like to brag but I was a pretty good dancer in my day. That was before the osteoporosis of course.
