GM: Peter Ott
Coach: Rod Brind’Amour
Last season: 24th overall. Missed playoffs
Ins and Outs
(Season 16 to Season 17)
In: Mika Zibanejad (free agent)
Out: Alex Galchenyuk (trade), Alexandre Texier (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Brady Tkachuk/Mika Zibanejad/Nail Yakupov
Phillip Schultz/Miro Aaltonen/Robert Thomas
Connor Bedard/Matteo Gennaro/Arthur Kaliyev
Klim Kostin/Michael Rasmussen/Cole Perfetti
Mikhail Sergachev/Miro Heiskanen
Alexander Romanov/Torey Krug
Dennis Cholowski/Bowen Byram
Andrey Vasilevskiy/Charles Smart
A Question
Why did Mika Zibanejad choose Prague? One of the top prizes in free agency chose Prague Sparta as his next home in the EURO League. To be precise, it’s only Mika Zibanejad’s second home, since Bern was his home for all 16 seasons of the league. He didn’t sign right away, choosing to test free agency a bit, but he eventually signed long-term because he plans to keep playing forever, or until the planet gets hit by a giant meteor, whichever comes first. Perhaps he feels he will be rejuvenated by playing with all the talented youngsters in Prague. Perhaps he eyes a front office job and the Spartans hinted at that. Zibanejad has a good chance of being named team captain, but it’s not like he’s the only veteran on the team. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy is about to start his 11th season between the pipes for the Spartans. In front of him is a team full of younger players who are taking their licks and learning valuable lessons every game. When they mature together – assuming GM Peter Ott can keep them in the Czech Republic – Prague will have a good dozen or so starters with OV ratings over 80. But the chances of Vasilevskiy still being the goalie when that happens are slim. He’s 32 this year and on the last year of his $8 million contract. Finding a goalie of the future will be another chore Ott will have to pay attention to. Prague has made it clear it is committed to its younger group of promising players, led by Connor Bedard, who is still a teenager. They traded longtime forward fixture Alex Galchenyuk in the off season and veterans Vladimir Roth and Damon Severson found themselves on the farm club last year. Defenseman Torey Krug, who is 35 now, must be wondering how long it will be before he is sent to MAC Budapest to join them.
Rose’s Focus
“Nail Yakupov visited my home recently to thank me for all I have done for the league. As we enjoyed pierogis, he reminded me about the first time we met, 15 seasons ago. The youngster from Russia was about to start a career and was wondering if he should buy a home in Prague, a city strange to him. He said I told him it would be difficult to make the 34-hour drive from his home in Nizhnekamsk to Prague every day for practice let alone the more than 1,200 games that I predicted he would play for Prague. He is at 1,188 games right now and he’s fit and ready for another 82 with the team. And he has a lovely home on Albanska Street in the Novy Bubenic section of Prague. I helped him find it way back in Season 2. He has a new concern right now. He is anxious about who he’s going to play with on the team this season because his good buddy and longtime roommate Alexander Galchenyuk was traded away in the off season. I told him I would talk to new coach Rod Brind’Amour and ask him to consider changing some player positions because the Spartans are loaded at center. ‘How would that affect me?’ he asked, adding “I’m not a center.’ Well, Nail, a couple of the centers could move to the left wing, but that will cause a logjam at that position, which is where Nail has been playing. By his unchanged eyes and body language, I could tell he didn’t get the hint. I finally broke it to him that he might have to become a right winger this season. ‘But I shoot left-handed. I can’t shoot right-handed,’ he said. I explained that, legally, he could still shoot lefty even if he plays on the right side and he raised his eyebrows, seeming to finally understand. Whatever happens, it should be good for the team because it is loaded with talented forwards, although their best years are still ahead of them. And I think one team member is now more at ease and filled up on pierogis.”
This is hilarious