GM: John Charles
Coach: Rod Brind’Amour
Last season: 22nd overall. Missed the playoffs.
Ins and Outs
(Season 17 to Season 18)
In: Alexey Toropchenko (free agent), Philipp Grubauer (free agent), Victor Mete (free agent),
Out: Jakub Kovar (free agent), Sam Reinhart (free agent), Jesse Puljujarvi (free agent), Tomas Hyka (free agent), Cody Ceci (free agent), Patrick Wiercioch (free agent),
Potential Lineup
Kirill Kaprizov/Scott Conway/Albert Sjoberg
Alexey Toropchenko/Dylan Strome/Filip Zadina
Dominik Kubalik/Nolan Patrick/Joel Farabee
Zach Benson/Kirby Dach/Frank Nazar
Jamie Drysdale/John Klingberg
Anthony DeAngelo/Mattias Samuelsson
Victor Mete/Shea Theodore
Jeremy Swayman/Philipp Grubauer
A Question
Is this a new chapter in Edinburgh Capitals history? Yes. In Season 5, Jakub Kovar was a rookie who backed up Kari Lehtonen in goal for the team. The next season, Kovar took over the main job and now, for the first time since Season 6, he will not be the starter in Edinburgh. This is the beginning of the Jeremy Swayman Era. The American spent four seasons as Kovar’s understudy and just about everyone in Scotland thinks he’s ready for 60 or more games between the pipes. He has already been signed to a 4-year extension at $6.1 million which could end up being a real bargain for General Manager John Charles. As for the rest of the team, not much has changed in the off season. Charles doesn’t trade often. The last trade Edinburgh took part in was in Season 12 when they acquired defenseman Alexander Weiss from Bratislava for an aging Jamie Benn. But three holes had to be filled by free agency this summer. Alexey Toropchenko will replace Sam Reinhart on the right wing, Victor Mete takes Cody Ceci’s spot on the bottom defense pair, and veteran Philipp Grubauer will give Swayman the occasional rest in goal. That’s all good news for the younger Caps who continue to get ice time and experience points. People like Filip Zadina, Zach Benson, Kirby Dach and others will benefit. All forwards other than Toropchenko, who is 30, are in their 20s and all of them have PO ratings of 81 or higher; some much higher. That’s what a focus on developing players will do for you. The defense corps is a pretty balanced mix of young and old, offensive and defensive tendancies, with powerplay quarterback John Klingberg as its leader.
Rose’s Focus
I am currently reading ‘The Mystery of Albert Sjoberg’. I misspoke. Technically, I am watching it. The main character has Finesse and Passing ratings of 100 and Speed, Hockey Sense and Shooting ratings of 95 or higher. If you know your Websim Hockey, you know the English translation for those numbers is ‘lots of points.’ But last year? Last year the 27-year-old Swede produced just 35 points while playing on the second line. How is that even possible, I ask. It’s driving me nuts and as much as I want to skip ahead to the last chapter to see how this story ends, alas, I can’t. I am about to start Chapter 4 of Sjoberg’s story. Chapter 2 ended with him scoring 56 points and getting 194 shots on goal. Then Chapter 3 happened. Every time I turned the page in that chapter a new spate of bad luck seemed to happen. But why? It didn’t make sense. Sjoberg doesn’t take penalties and he’s fairly durable so he was on the ice skating often enough to score points. Maybe he’s too skinny. Maybe he’s too scared to get his nose bent. I’m just guessing. I’m also wondering if he will get more ice time this season to break the bad luck. Perhaps he will be given a chance on the top line. Kirill Kaprizov is already there so it doesn’t seem likely. Hmph. But wait, I remember another book I read where the main character was tried at a new position and he ended up winning the hearts of all the women in his village. I think it was called ‘The Stamkos Endeavor’ or something like that. Maybe Edinburgh Coach Drew Bannister will try Sjoberg on the right wing this season with Kaprizov and Scott Conway. Or maybe Sjoberg will just continue his mysterious ways and score 37 points this year. Or 107 points. It could go either way with him.”
