GM: Steve Yung
Coach: Michel Therrien
Last season: 11th overall. In playoffs, lost to Belfast
Ins and Outs
(Season 17 to Season 18)
In: Igor Shesterkin (free agent), Ryan Murray (free agent), Dougie Hamilton (free agent), Stefan Ulmer (free agent), Nick Schmaltz (free agent), Fyodor Malykhin (free agent), Loic Lamperier (free agent), Mattias Sjogren (free agent), Miks Indrasis (free agent), Torey Krug (free agent), Tomas Zaborsky (free agent), Sam Malinski (draft)
Out: Kris Letang (retired), Chris Driedger (free agent), Yanni Gourde (free agent), Thomas Powell (free agent), Andre Burakovsky (waivers), Ondrej Palat (free agent), Claude Giroux (free agent), Artemy Panarin (free agent), Tyler Toffoli (free agent), Reid Boucher (free agent), Derek Ryan (free agent), Jonas Holos (free agent), Gurkan Cetinkaya (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Filip Forsberg/Elias Pettersson/Fyodor Malykhin
Taylor Hall/John Tavares/Nick Schmaltz
Tomas Zaborsky/Loic Lamperier/Steven Stamkos
Mattias Sjogren/Ryan O’Reilly/Miks Indrasis
Ken Kuusk/Colton Parayko
Dougie Hamilton/Alex Pietrangelo
Ryan Murray/Torey Krug
Igor Shesterkin/Isak Posch
A Question
How will all the new players react to each other? It was another summer of about a dozen free agent additions for Paris General Manager Steve Yung. The man loves to go shopping, doesn’t he? Nine of the starting players Paris fans will be cheering for this season were guys they booed last year and in some cases for a decade or more. The new players had to spend four days shaking hands and introducing themselves to each other and the team’s tailors are only about 60 percent done preparing the 36 new jerseys that will be needed (home, away and third). Coach Michel Therrien is exhausted already from juggling lines and defense pairings, but you can count on him being ready for the start of the season. Many consider him the best coach in the league. He knows there is one area in which the team fell woefully short last season and that was in goal scoring. They ranked 19th in the league in goals, but they were downright stubborn on defense, ranking 5th best in the goals against and 6th best in shots against. John Tavares and Steven Stamkos are together for another season at age 38, but you can’t rely on them for scoring like you could in the past. For one, their bodies aren’t holding up. Stamkos played 69 games last year and saw his point total drop from 80 the season before to 55. Tavares played in just 61 games and his point total fell off a cliff, from 97 to 57. As has been the case in recent years, Therrien and Yung are placing a lot of stock in experience and leadership. Fifteen Paris players have Experience ratings of 100 and one, Ken Kuusk, has a 100 leadership rating. The Estonian defenseman started with the team when he was drafted 6th overall in Season 2 and he played 29 games that season. In the 15 seasons since then, Kuusk has been a lineup fixture if there ever was one. He has only missed 24 games in that period and has been an all-star six times. This season, he will work with Colton Parayko for upwards of 25 minutes per game, looking to take 100 or more shots and score 10 or more goals for the 13th time in his career. Kuusk is 34 and Parayko is 33, making them the youngsters of the ultra-experienced defense corps. Igor Shesterkin, 30, played for Madrid the last three seasons and he will might be the main starter in goal unless Isak Posch, the 22-year-old Swede, is convincing enough in his first several games to earn the trust of Coach Therrien.
Rose’s Focus
“People in Paris seem to be looking for something new these days. They want their government to change, they want air that is clean and breathable, and they want the EURO League commissioner gone. But can they really handle change? I don’t think they are ready. Why do I say that? Walk alongside Elias Pettersson someday in the French capital. Look at the faces of the passers-by and you will see confusion, bewilderment and insecurity. It just doesn’t compute to them that Pettersson is a Rouge Eiffel player. About 10 times, you will hear ‘Où sont les cheveux gris?’ (Where is the gray hair?) ‘Ou sont les rides?’ (Where are the wrinkles) and ‘Pourquoi son dos est-il droit quand il marche?’ (Why is his back straight when he walks?). Yes, the skinny Swedish guy is a Rouge Eiffel. In fact he was the team’s leading scorer by a mile last season (74 points to the next best total of 57). The confusion comes with the fact Pettersson is just 28 years old. 28! He still has 7 more years before he meets the team’s minimum age requirement. He also led the team in shots. And goals. And assists. And importantly, in games played. Last year, it seemed there was at least one Rouge Eiffel starter injured for every game. Once Paris fans learn to accept the fact a guy in his 20s can play hockey, then they will be ready for a new government. Until then, they will continue to see political unrest in their nation and hockey injury lists that change daily.”
