GM: Ronnie Walker
Coach: Jim Hiller
Last season: 20th overall. Did not make playoffs.
Ins and Outs
(Season 17 to Season 18)
In: Matt Duchene (free agent), Sam Reinhart (free agent), Thomas Chabot (trade), Juuse Saros (free agent), Sean Monahan (free agent), Travis Dermott (free agent), Eliezer Sherbatov (free agent), Ty Dellandrea (trade)
Out: Jakob Chychrun (trade), Alexei Bereglazov (trade), Jeff Skinner (free agent), Tyler Bertuzzi (trade), Jakub Vrana (trade), Vincent Trocheck (trade), Drake Batherson (trade), Connor Brown (free agent), Mark Jankowski (free agent), Jack Campbell (free agent), Logan Thompson (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Lucas Raymond/Matt Duchene/Sam Reinhart
Eliezer Sherbatov/Sean Monahan/Alexander Nylander
Jason Dickinson/Michael Kristof/Evgeny Kuznetsov
Marian Studenic/Dylan Cozens/Ty Dellandrea
Owen Power/Thomas Chabot
Kaiden Guhle/Travis Dermott
Darnell Nurse/Alex Vlasic
Juuse Saros/Elvis Merzlikins
A Question
Why is Estonia suddenly the hub of activity? General Manager Ronnie Walker moved the team in the off season and immediately seemed focused on ushering out some veterans who weren’t getting the job done to his liking. In seven trades, he picked up four prospects, four picks, and Ty Dellandrea, who made the ridiculous comment at his first press conference that, “It’s always been a dream of mine to play in Tallinn for the Vikings.” That’s what happens when you ask pro athletes to speak nowadays. Then, through free agency, the Vikings injected skillful veteran centers Matt Duchene and Sean Monahan and it appears the top two lines will give opponents some business to worry about. Lucas Raymond is a handful on the wing, and the rest of the forwards offer excellent depth, but for a while there, we couldn’t see where the goals were going to come from. Then former Edinburgh sniper Sam Reinhart, 32, signed a contract to remain in the English Channel Division. Still, this team was 14th in shots and 18th in goals per game last season. Reinhart alone can’t get them in the top half of those stat categories. Where the Vikings – when they were the Ajax – were strongest last season was in team defense. They were 8th in the league in goals against. That’s a stat that will considerably boost your chances for a playoff spot. Unfortunately, they were also 18th in goals against, pointing to either the quality of the goaltending or just bad luck. The defense corps seems like it’s in pretty good shape for a couple of seasons and its chief goal will be limiting shots and clearing rebounds in front of goalies Juuse Saros, Elvis Merzlikins and possibly Jordan Binnington, who – by the way – is steaming mad for not being penciled in for opening day. It will be interesting to see how fans of the new Tallinn team treat backup goalie Elvis Merzlikins, who hails from neighboring Latvia. Chances are he will receive the loudest cheers on the team as long as he isn’t Swiss cheese out there.
Rose’s Focus
“I always wondered how a hockey team in Amsterdam could keep its focus on hockey. There are a lot of distractions in that Dutch city. General Manager Ronnie Walker noticed one night before a home game that 15 of his 20 starters were out in the Red Light District of Amsterdam very late into the night. Not good. A few nights later, he noticed that number had risen to 17 and then a week after that, it was up to 19 of his 20 starters out drinking, doing drugs, watching gorgeous women strip in storefront windows and even engaging in hanky panky. That led to several questions about just how serious the Ajax were. I had one: Why is Ronnie always in the Red Light District late at night? Walker put his foot down, (he slipped off a bar stool) an idea struck him, (it was a beer bottle during a brawl) and he was off and running with it. (he was actually running. Away. In fear.) So off to Estonia went the whole team. It is a much, much quieter place and 81 percent of Walker’s former girlfriends live there. Then Walker started his major makeover. He removed the eye liner and lipstick … wait, I’m think of a different makeover. He made seven trades with other EURO League teams and the net result is a younger group of men. Are they better? Worse? More mature? Less mature? I don’t know. The important thing is that in Estonia, where the most exciting thing to do is look across the bay and wonder what it’s like to live in comparatively exciting Helsinki and cheer for the Jokerit, they can now focus on hockey.”
