GM: Svein Haugsmoen
Coach: Alain Vigneault
Last season: Tied for 2nd overall. In playoffs, lost to Dublin
Ins and Outs
(Season 15 to Season 16)
In: Ryan Murray (free agent), Reto Suri (free agent), Nick Schmaltz (free agent), Justin Schultz (free agent), Petr Vrana (free agent), Pavel Sacha (free agent), Mike Indrasis (free agent), Hayden Hawley (free agent), Alexander Burmistrov (free agent), Mats Rosseli Olsen (free agent)
Out: Gabriel Landeskog (free agent), Sergei Mozyakin (free agent), Justin Faulk (free agent), Tyler Ennis (free agent), Alex Pietrangelo (free agent), Jonathan Drouin (free agent), Tobias Rieder (free agent), Slava Voynov (free agent), Vlad Namestnikov (free agent), Anthony Nigro (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Petr Vrana/Nathan MacKinnon/David Pastrnak
Miks Indrasis/Pavel Zacha/Mitch Marner
Nick Schmaltz/Kjetil Martinsen/Tomas Jurco
Mats Rosseli Olsen/Alex Burmistrov/Reto Suri
Justin Schultz/Ryan Murray
Cam Fowler/Nikita Zaitzev
Travis Sanheim/Erik Gudbranson
Alexander Salak/Hayden Hawkey
A Question
What are the Giants’ strengths? Belfast had the most successful forward line in the league last year, points-wise. Nathan MacKinnon, David Pastrnak and Gabriel Landeskog scored 304 points together. But Landeskog is a Smurf now. He’s the biggest name that left Northern Ireland in the off season, but there were more, including creative center Sergei Mozyakin and defensemen Alex Pietrangelo and Justin Faulk. What has changed the most? The left wings on all four lines now feature brand new Giants. Petr Vrana will be plugged into the MacKinnon line and his best asset is a willingness to shoot pucks. There are only 27 active players who have taken more shots than he has in his career, which had him in Gothenburg and Minsk before this season. Another part of the Giants’ lineup that will look different this year is the defense corps. Ryan Murray and Justin Schultz were both signed as free agents for less than $3.8 million each and they get first crack at top defense pair duty. Cam Fowler and Nikita Zaitsev will be right behind them and together they earn a shade over $5 million. We bring the salaries up because GM Sein Haugsmoen has the payroll $5.5 million below the league salary cap and $1.9 million below the owner’s budget. That is highly unusual for a Belfast team. In goal for the fourth-straight season is Alexander Salak, who played in Moscow for 11 years and who currently has the 3rd-best career save percentage in league history at 90.7 percent. Only Helsinki’s Frederik Andersen (90.8) and former Belfast goalie Jonathan Quick (91.3) are ahead of him. And Belfast still has coach Alain Vigneault at the helm and his talent and influence can’t be understated.
Rose’s Focus
“Do you believe in ghosts? I didn’t, but I do now. My ghost story, which I think I will call ‘The Haunting of Belfast,’ began during the tumultuous start of Season 13. The Giants were millions and millions and millions of dollars over the salary cap and they chose to waive their leading scorer along with an all-star defenseman, their top goalie and Jonathan Huberdeau, who was an 87 OV center. Dublin, their arch enemies in the sovereign nation with whom they share an island, had just finished last in the league and they had first dibs on every waived player. Plus, they had kegs of cap space. Matt Duchene, Jonathan Huberdeau and Oliver Ekman-Larsson went directly from Belfast’s roster to Dublin’s. Unfortunately for Belfast, the former Belfast players carried Dublin into the playoffs that year. The Guinness Chuggers then pulled off a massive first-round upset to knock the Giants out of the playoffs and they also eliminated Belfast from the playoffs both years since. There is no scientific evidence to support the crazy idea that it was just coincidental that the waived players came back to haunt their old team in three consecutive playoffs. The only other thing it could be is … (cue the scary music accompanied by a lightning strike) … The Haunting of Belfast.”
