GM: Frank Petrucci
Coach: Jim Hiller
Last season: 21st overall. Did not make playoffs.
Ins and Outs
(Season 16 to Season 17)
In: Marian Studenic (trade), Tyler Bertuzzi (trade), Alex Vlasic (draft)
Out: Brett Howden (trade), Patrik Laine (trade), Nick Ritchie (free agent), Joel Nystrom (trade), Anton Lazarev (bought out), Derek Forbort (bought out), Andrew Mangiapane (bought out), Linus Hogberg (bought out)
Potential Lineup
Adrian Kempe/Mark Jankowski/Drake Batherson
Lucas Raymond/Marian Studenic/Tyler Bertuzzi
Michael Kristof/Vince Trocheck/Alexander Nylander
Oskar Lindblom/Jason Dickinson/Connor Brown
Kaiden Guhle/Neal Pionk
Alexei Bereglazov/Owen Power
Jakob Chychrun/Artem Zub
Jordan Binnington/Logan Thompson
A Question
Where are the Ajax strong and weak? The defense corps is strong and the goalie position is finally coming along in Holland thanks to Jordan Binnington, who was acquired a year ago. General Manager Frank Petrucci has done a sneaky good job of assembling a balanced, versatile team. We can easily see Vincent Trocheck’s line playing 4th line one game, 3rd line the next and 1st line a few games later. The same shuffling could happen on all forward lines, all year long. Where the team needs to improve next is in the all-important department of scoring goals. How do the Ajax do that? Especially after they traded their top two scorers (Brett Howden and Patrik Laine) in the off-season. The line shuffling we just mentioned might be a way to find the best chemistry among linemates. Before we get too far down the road, we have to mention the job Mark Jankowski did for the team last season. The sturdy 29-year-old center with virtually no experience earned a 12-minutes-per-game job in the lineup and finished third on the team in scoring with 24 goals and 26 assists. And he’s perceived as a hitting forward and checker. He was also their top face-off man and the team is rewarding him with top line minutes, at least to start the season. Now back to the team in general … the Ajax allowed 5 more shots on goal per game than they took in Season 16. If they can turn that around, everything will fall into place, but that’s a difficult ask. It should help that the three defense pairs mix an offensive guy with a more defensive-thinking guy. That chemistry thing we mentioned is imperative if Amsterdam wants to make the playoffs. If they find it early, they could be in.
Rose’s Focus
“‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going’ is a saying my grandpa invented one night while he was listing to Franz Schubert on the Victrola. Amsterdam keeps fighting – I don’t mean literally dropping the gloves fighting – and that’s what I love about them. The GM there – Frank Petrucci took me to a nice Italian dinner one evening (that’s as far as it went) and he told me his philosophy is to have a balanced array of weapons if you want to really be ready for a fight. Under his sports jacket, he showed me that he had a few pistols, I don’t know how many different kinds of knives, as well as rope, some spray thing and something that looked like a ravioli. Maybe that last one slipped off his fork while he ate. By the way, he eats way too fast. Anyway, the Ajax are being built along that same philosophy. If you look over their attributes, you will see a nice spread of skill, hockey sense, intensity, etc. I’m especially impressed with the fact Jason Dickinson and Curtis Brown are in the lineup, always ready to kill penalties. They’re good at that. The only things I see missing now is a true leader type and as a whole, the Ajax need more beef in the lineup. Maybe that’s why Frank went out and got Alexei the Bear Bereglazov in a trade last season. But anyway you look at it, the collectively qualities of this team are good. They just need to keep their focus on the games and their ravioli on their forks, so to speak.”
