GM: Roger Bowmoore
Coach: Paul MacLean
Last season: 10th overall. In playoffs, lost to Helsinki
Ins and Outs
(Season 15 to Season 16)
In: Cody Eakin (free agent), Jakub Krejcik (free agent), Sam Steel (free agent), Robert Hagg (free agent), Matt Benning (free agent), Mark Kastelic (free agent), Cole Moberg (free agent)
Out: Alexander Radulov (buyout), Timo Meier (buyout), Reto Suri (free agent), Michael Del Zotto (free agent), Oliver Ekman-Larsson (free agent), Andreas Borgman (free agent), Riley Stillman (free agent), Dominik Kahun (free agent),
Potential Lineup
Tomas Hertl/Dominik Lakatos/Mikko Rantanen
Sam Steel/Nardo Nagtzaam/Danton Heinen
Rasmus Asplund/Cody Eakin/William Von Barnekow
Parker Kelly/Frederik Gauthier/Axel Orongan
Gregory Beron/Jakub Krejcik
Robert Hagg/Ryan Lindgren
Marek Hrbas/Matt Benning
Martin Jones/Andrew Hammond
A Question
Where is London strongest? Even a single injury to a top player would throw the balance off, but right now, London has a good player in place at all the most important positions except one. Sorry, Sam Steel or Rasmus Asplund, but one of you is going to have to play over your head this season. While they may be a little weak on the LW on the 2nd line, they have a strong 3rd-line center in Cody Eakin. So London will compete with two strong forward lines, a steady defense corps, quality powerplay and penalty killing units, and two experienced, proven goalies. The duo of forwards Dominik Lakatos and Tomas Hertl is difficult to stop. They both played a ton last season (27 minutes per game) but they held up pretty well. With a little rest now and then, we can see both being 40-goal scorers this season. But don’t get your hopes up too high, because making it to the finals is tough in the Northern Conference. In each of the last two seasons, London was knocked out of the playoffs by the eventual EURO Cup winner.
Rose’s Focus
“When my niece moved into her new apartment in Krakow, I was there to help her. That’s just the kind of aunt I am. The first step was cleaning the place and getting rid of all the excess furniture, dishes, etc. The girl who had the place before overspent on that size apartment. That’s probably why the apartment was open. You should have seen it. Erik Forssell posters overlapping on every wall. I bet that’s kind of what Roger Bowmoore thought when he took over London in the offseason. The previous owner played so tight to the cap, that when players’ contracts gave them scheduled raises, the team had no chance of staying under the limit. A handful of talented players had to be let go. But it’s like I told my niece, ‘With some careful spending and cleaning, the apartment will look beautiful. It just takes time and love.’ Sometimes I can’t believe such great advice comes out of my mouth. Roger, you get the same advice.”
