GM: Delwin Y
Coach: John Stevens
Last season: 9th overall. In playoffs, lost to Minsk
Ins and Outs
(Season 17 to Season 18)
In: Joel Eriksson Ek (free agent), Jesse Puljujarvi (free agent), Dmitrij Jaskin (free agent)
Out: Jean-Gabriel Pageau (free agent), Patryk Wajda (free agent), J.T. Miller (free agent),
Potential Lineup
Nikolaj Ehlers/Jack Eichel/Filip Sveningsson
Denis Gurianov/Joel Eriksson Ek/Jesse Puljujarvi
Matias Maccelli/Filip Chytil/Tobias Rieder
Sarah Nurse/Kendall Coyne-Schofield/Jordan Eberle
Olli Maatta/Artur Cholach
Jeremy Lauzon/Brady Skjei
Markus Steinkasserer/Brandt Clarke
Connor Hellebuyck/Carter Hart
A Question
How will Eichel and crew look different this season? Hockey is a tough game and to succeed, you have to be able to stand up to teams when they get mean. But it’s best if you stand up to them legally. That way, you are not playing a lot of little two-minute stretches a man short. Stockholm was the 5th most penalized team last season thanks mainly to three rough members of their defense corps: Patryk Wajda, Jeremy Lauzon and Artur Cholach, who all had 90 or more PIMs. But Wajda’s contract expired and he’s gone. Don’t assume, however, that the team will be easier to push around with Wajda gone. General Manager Delwin Yung added three big, strong players over the off season and Joel Eriksson Ek, Jesse Puljujarvi and Dmitrij Jaskin are relatively disciplined forwards who make space with their size without sitting much in the penalty box. They are not the best defensive forwards, however, and that’s still an area of concern for the team that was slightly below average defensively last year, allowing over the league average in shots against. Stockholm only has two or three forwards who back check well, including Filip Sveningsson and Denis Gurianov. Luckily, the defense corps is very much in tune with their defensive responsibilities, but still, it would be nice if players like Jack Eichel and Nikolaj Ehlers would come back and help them occasionally. Fortunately, the defenseman don’t have to worry too much about the guy behind them doing his job. Connor Hellebuyck came to the team last year and earned the starting role with 31 wins and an 89.3 save percentage. He is 33 and the final year of his contract with the team. Meanwhile, Eichel, now 31, will continue to be one of the league’s most dangerous offensive weapons and you can feel safe placing a bet on him to again score around 100 points, take about 300 shots and score around 40 goals.
Rose’s Focus
“I thought the eventual breakup of the EEE Line would come this off season, and it looks like I was right. But I thought Nikolaj Ehlers would be the E that was demoted, not Jordan Eberle. Eberle was a freak of nature last season. At age 37, he scored 36 goals and 82 points while taking 221 shots. He was the team’s second-highest scorer. Ehlers was fourth with 74 points. Second-line wing Tobias Rieder had a great season, improved his point total from 44 to 80 over the previous season, and passed Ehlers on the team scoring list. So why is Ehlers on the top line to start the season and Eberle on the fourth line, where he will work with the women, Sarah Nurse and Kendall Coyle-Schofield? My guess is new coach John Stevens either doesn’t like old people or doesn’t know how to work with them. Why did I just say ‘either’? It’s probably both. I will note at this juncture that the Christmas card Stevens sent me last winter was a blank card with simply ‘Merry X-mas. John S.’ on the inside. Pretty unimaginative and uninspiring. Stevens did a good job in Bern with a younger team last season, so maybe I’ll give him some leeway. Experts say Stevens is a superb defensive strategist and Stockholm could use one of those. The team was great on the powerplay last year (3rd best in the EURO) but only 13th in penalty killing. Look for both of those rankings to work their way closer to 7th or 8th best this season.’
