GM: Shalom Connell
Coach: Andrew Brunette
Last season: 3rd overall. In playoffs, defeated Zurich; lost to Munich
Ins and Outs
(Season 17 to Season 18)
In: Chris Driedger (free agent), Tim Berni (trade), Brendan Perlini (free agent), Alex Trivellato (free agent), Andre Burakovsky (waivers), Cam Fowler (free agent), Tomas Hyka (free agent), Kevin Labanc (free agent), Olivrer Ekman-Larsson (waivers)
Out: Juuse Saros (free agent), Thomas Spelling (free agent), Christian Fischer (waiver), Shayne Gostisbehere (trade), Tyson Barrie (free agent), Matt Dumba (free agent), Henrik Haapala (waivers), Elias Lindholm (free agent), Adam Henrique (free agent), Luka Gracnar (free agent), Jakub Voracek (free agent), Ludvig Rensfeld (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Jake Debrusk/Nico Hischier/Sebastian Aho
Maxime Comtois/Anthony Cirelli/Brendan Perlini
Andre Burakovsky/Brett Howden/Tomas Hyka
Jack Quinn/Dawson Mercer/Wyatt Johnston
Rasmus Dahlin/Jaccob Slavin
Thomas Harley/Cam Fowler
Alex Trivellato/Timothy Liljegren
Chris Driedger/Lukas Dostal
A Question
Has the Bears’ hibernation really ended? Longtime Bern fans are thrilled with their team’s meteoric improvement and their 3rd place finish in the league and they are excited for the start of another season and the chance to grab the Cup for the first time. They could go without a repeat of that gut-wrenching loss to Munich in the second round of the playoffs though. That still doesn’t taste good. The franchise has been here before, but a long, long time ago. The Bears went for it all in Season 1, didn’t win it, and then Bern suffered for a dozen seasons trying to rebuild. To jump up the standings, General Manager Shalom Connell traded away a few prime young assets last season to get quality veterans into the lineup. But two of those acquisitions are gone already: Shayne Gostisbehere and Juuse Saros. Still, Bern is in great shape. This off season, the GM had to find just a couple of equivalent replacements to repeat the glorious season Bern had in Season 17. Connell convinced Chris Driedger to return to his draft team and guard the bear cave and the Bears’ nucleus is composed of players of the perfect age. For new coach Andrew Brunette, the toughest questions will be who will play with whom. For example, Ramus Dahlin is for sure the top defenseman, but who will his partner be? Will Thomas Harley dance with Dahlin to ratchet up the offense or will Jaccob Slavin slide in there to keep the odd-man rushes toward Driedger to a minimum? And up front, does the coach break up the combo of Brett Howden and Maxime Comtois? With their RW Christian Fischer, they made up the team’s best plus/minute unit up front last season. But Fischer was waived and now Brunette has some shuffling to do. Brendan Perlini, Andre Burakovsky and Tomas Hyka are newcomers to the forward group and everyone, including them, is anxious to see how they fit into this Swiss puzzle.
Rose’s Focus
“I think that in order to win in the EURO League, a team has to be solid in all areas, including special teams. They have to have a good goalie and some quality leadership. The talent Bern can send out on powerplays and penalty killing is as impressive as it gets, especially on defense, where you will see a lot of Rasmus Dahlin, Jaccob Slavin and Thomas Harley. As for the goalie part, new free agent signing Chris Driedger certainly fits the bill for the Bears. In the last four seasons with Paris, he has kept his save percentage over .900 and his goals against average under 3.00. Swiss hero Nico Hischier and Finn Sebastian Aho have become Bern’s version of Maverick and Goose, Butch and Sundance, Stamkos and Tavares. They skate together beautifully, weaving together intricate plays like I wish I could knit. It’s an area I need to improve upon, but I’ll get there. Nico and Sebastian are cute kids and they are also the team’s top two leaders at age 27 (Hischier) and 30 (Aho). You aren’t going to believe this, but if you add their ages together, I’m still older than them. Like Hischier, I had some good leadership qualities when I was 27 too, but I found I had even more when I was 57 and I’m improving to this day. My point is experience is a good thing. I find ways to keep this league running even if Commissioner Chuck Massaro doesn’t realize it or understand how I’m doing it. Is young Hischier’s 94 Leadership rating good enough for the Bears team? Will he be able to push the group through bad times when they occur? He has to be good at that part of the game. I work in the league office with Massaro, so I know how difficult it is to make forward progress with lackluster leadership.”
