GM: Eigil Tennes
Coach: Paul MacLean
Last season: 10th overall. In playoffs, defeated Athens; lost to Paris
Ins and Outs
(Season 14 to Season 15)
In: Karri Ramo (free agent), Luka Gracnar (trade), Vincent Trocheck (free agent), Jiri Sekac (free agent), Marian Studenic (waivers), Lorenzo Maas (free agent), Justin Holl (free agent), Brayden McNabb (free agent), Phillip Danault (free agent)
Out: Sean Monahan (free agent), John Carlson (free agent), Andrew Hammond (free agent), Yegor Milovzorov (free agent), Nikita Zaitsev (free agent), Evgeny Solomonov (free agent), Bud Holloway (free agent), Matthias Asperup (free agent), Stanislav Galimov (free agent), Kevin Bozon (free agent), Zach Whitecloud (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Sebastian Aho/Mika Zibanejad/Kristian Kuusela
Olegs Sislannikovs/Nico Hischier/Mark Stone
Maxime Comtois/Vincent Trocheck/Joonas Donskoi
Dawson Mercer/Elias Lindholm/Phil Tomasino
Justin Holl/Rasmus Dahlin
Jake Dotchin/Timothy Liljegren
Alex Petrovic/Lorenzo Maas
Karri Ramo/Luka Gracnar
Three Questions
1. What is this team’s strength? The Interrail have speed and skill above all else, all over the ice, so that’s the overall general strength of Bern. Particularly, their centers are great. Mika Zibanejad gets the most ice time, publicity and points, but Bern is strong at center through all four lines, especially after signing tenacious Vincent Trocheck in the off season. Nico Hischier will center the second line and Elias Lindholm will battle with Trocheck for the remaining ice time, although Trocheck is likely to be asked to penalty kill on a regular basis. Bern doesn’t have many good wingers though. Sebastian Aho, Mark Stone and Kristian Kuusela are the exceptions. They have all been all-stars in recent years. Having Zibanejad or Hischier as your center is a good recipe if you want to go the all-star route. Aho is ultra fast and he has silky mitts. Last season, he tallied 38 times and scored 90 points as a 26-year-old. He and Hischier have signed long-term contracts to stay in Bern for 4 more seasons. Stone, 31, is a good all-around player who has twice scored 80 points in a season. Kuusela isn’t very big but he is tricky and scored 75 points, including 37 goals, two seasons ago.
2. How about the other forwards? The remainder of the Bern forwards could use some learning on the job before they are ready to be consistent threats. Three wingers in the bottom 6 are 23 or younger, and even 31-year-olds Jiri Sekac and Joonas Donskoi are relatively inexperienced. The talented and defensively sound Sekac may not have gotten a fair shake earlier in his career. He has just 127 games on his resume. Donskoi has only played the equivalent of two seasons. As inexperienced as the forwards seem, they look like sage old wisemen compared to the team’s defensemen. Lorenzo Maas, 31, who is new to the club, has played four seasons. That’s not an awful lot, but he is the team’s most experienced blueliner. On a team that might find inexperience is holding it back, a player like left wing Oleg Sislannikovs, who is a veteran of four seasons, might find himself playing a greater role as the season goes on.
3. Is Bern having trouble stabilizing in the back? There has been a lot of turnover behind the forward lines lately in Bern. The Interrail changed out two main defensemen before last season and this year, John Carlson, Yegor Milovzorov and Nikita Zaitsev left. In goal, free agent pickup Karri Ramo will be the third starting goalie in three seasons. Ramo is good and his backup, Luka Gracnar, is one of the best backups in the league with an 89.6 save percentage through 9 seasons. Taking a closer look at the defense corps, we like what GM Eigil Tennes is doing. First off, you have to have good hockey sense if you want to play for the Interrail. All of his defensemen excel in that area. The GM is also giving his offensive-minded defensemen a defense-thinking, tougher kind of player to partner with them so one guy can fly up ice and not worry too much about being covered. Justin Holl starts as Rasmus Dahlin’s partner. Holl is a solid defender, but not much of a puck mover. Dahlin is creative and confident and he will be an all-star at some point in his career. The Timothy Liljegren/Jake Dotchin and Lorenzo Maas/Alex Petrovic duos will play the same way, although Liljegren and Maas are by no means as good with the puck as Dahlin is. The cool part, if you are into good bargains, is that the highest-paid defenseman on the team – Dotchin – makes just $2.28 million.
Rose’s Focus
“Bern’s penalty killing was third-worst in the league in Season 14. They gave up more goals and more shots per game than the average EURO team did. Only four teams took more penalties than Bern did last year. They are really young and inexperienced. So far, it sounds like I’m telling the story of a losing team, right? Here’s the plot twist: the Interrail were the 9th best team in the league standings last year. Surprised? With what I’ve shared with you so far, you should be. How did they do so well? Offense is the answer. They were – and are – a good offensive team. Actually, that might be a little too generous. The truth is five Bern forwards have been rolling and it seems they are capable of beating teams all by themselves. Mika Zibanejad, Sebastian Aho, Mark Stone, Nico Hischier and Kristian Kuusela absolutely love playing with each other. And You can see it when they are on the bench, laughing, and when they are out after games, playing pranks on each other and playing knee hockey in the hotel hallways. They act like 13-year-olds sometimes and maybe that’s a good thing. Fun equals goals in Bern, apparently. They don’t have Sean Monahan to play with anymore because he has moved on to Madrid, but frankly, he is a boring guy and isn’t a good fit with the Fun Five.”
