GM: Tony B
Coach: Dan Bylsma
Last season: 11th overall. In playoffs, lost to Athens
Ins and Outs
(Season 15 to Season 16)
In: Brandon Carlo (trade), Christian Dvorak (trade), Stanislav Vrhel (trade), Daniel Sprong (free agent), Florian Bugl (draft), Jordan Harris (draft), Fabian Zetterlund (draft), Johnathan Kovacevic (draft), David Maier (draft) … after story was published: Dmitrij Jaskin (free agent), Ivan Barbashev (free agent), Sakari Salminen (free agent), Kevin Leblanc (free agent), Ross Colton (free agent),
Out: Niko Hovinen (free agent), Filip Forsberg (waivers), Jordan Kyrou (trade), Anthony Mantha (bought out), Spencer Smallman (free agent), Troy Stecher (free agent), Dominik Pas (free agent), Henrik Haapala (free agent), Christoph Korner (free agent), Ben Hutton (free agent), Ryan Gunderson (free agent), Sakari Salminen (free agent), Nick Bjugstad (free agent), Peter Thome (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Christian Dvorak/Sean Monahan/Matthew Boldy
Eliezer Sherbatov/Jeff Skinner/Denis Malgin
Tyler Bertuzzi/Lewis Houston/Daniel Sprong
Eeli Tolvanen/Nico Huuhtanen/Stanislav Vrhel
Jonas Holos/Brandon Carlo
Alex Trivellato/Ethan Bear
Philippe Myers/Tim Berni
Igor Shesterkin/Florian Bugl
A Question
Is there a youth movement on in Spain? You rarely see this kind of movement between seasons. Last season ended on a sour note for Madrid when Derek Ryan of Athens scored in overtime of Game 7 to send the Royals home in the first round of the playoffs. Spaniards aren’t great at letting anger and sadness subside. Change was demanded. So expect a totally different Madrid team this season. Not only did the team lose its goalie (Niko Hovinen) to free agency, it at least tried to shave away 7 of its top 8 scoring forwards from last season. Sean Monahan led the team in scoring with his career-best 64 points in 19 minutes per game, and he will be back at age 32. The next two on the scoring list – Jeff Skinner and Eliezer Sherbatov – are also back, but they can’t feel wanted. Both were waived and not picked up by other teams. The next five players on the points list were all let go. The players who will carry the load for the Royals are mainly younger players including goalie Igor Shesterkin, who played 39 games last season with a 3.50 GAA and 88.8 save percentage. Long-term, Madrid needs young players Matt Boldy, Ethan Bear, Nico Huuhtanen and some others to develop as much as possible, so expect to see them get lots of ice time this season. Offense-minded defenseman Simon Edvinsson is playing in the AHL and is doing very well. Royals supports will have an eye on how the NHL Detroit Red Wings develop him because he could be a linchpin on the Madrid defense corps someday.
Rose’s Focus
“I think Dan Bylsma has been Madrid’s only head coach in this league. He keeps his job because he always seems to be able to milk the very most out of his players. But to milk the most out of the Royals this season, he is going to have to grab onto his players’ teats with both hands. People look at the players they lost and gained in the off-season and most are worried, but look closer. Five-time all-star forward Filip Forsberg is out and zero-time all-star Christian Dvorak is in. A net loss, right? Well both scored 21 goals last season and Dvorak is seen as a much better defensive player. What do you think of that? What worries me about this team is its collective mood and mindset. Now I’m only guessing about this, bear in mind, because I have no idea what it feels like to be unwanted. But two of the most influential players on Madrid now do. Jeff Skinner and Eli Sherbatov were both waived in the off-season, presumably because their team didn’t want them anymore. To make matters worse for the forwards, no other team wanted them either. How will they handle that? I, being mature and smart, would put my head down, work hard and prove my worth. But Skinner seems super immature to me. Like a 13-year-old. And Sherbatov was a Smurf for a long time, so you know his head’s not right. It will be interesting to see who Bylsma names as captain and alternates this year. Ethan Bear was captain last year. Does the coach dare give Skinner and Sherbatov the microphones that an A on the jersey would bring?”
