GM: Jalen Smyth
Coach: Paul Maurice
Last season: 19th overall. Did not make playoffs
Ins and Outs
(Season 18 to Season 19)
In: Nick Paul (waiver), Niko Hovinen (free agent), Dominik Kubalik (free agent), Marcus Pettersson (free agent), Justin Sourdif (draft), Ian Moore (free agent), Hayden Hawkey (free agent), Cale Fleury (free agent)
Out: Mikko Rantanen (free agent), Nardo Nagtzaam (free agent), Marek Hrbas (free agent),
Potential Lineup
Tomas Hertl/Dominik Lakatos/Dylan Guenther
Dominik Kubalik/Nick Paul/Alexander Volkov
Sam Steel/Justin Sourdif/Troy Terry
William Von Barnekow/Mike Iulianello/Matvei Gridin
Marcus Pettersson/Ryan Lindgren
Matt Roy/Logan Stanley
Bernd Wolf/Simon Nemec
Niko Hovinen/Hayden Hawkey
A Question
Is London going in the right direction? Oh yeah. The Monarchs seem to be gaining traction, that’s for sure. One of the franchise’s brightest moments in the past year came in the draft lottery when they moved up four spots to grab Ivar Stenberg, passer extraordinaire from Sweden who some scouts say they would have taken first overall in the NHL draft. If he can develop nicely in San Jose before getting his Websim attributes, London fans might be watching him and young Dylan Guenther tearing up the wings – possibly with Dominik Lakatos as their center. But that’s food for thought a few years from now. In Season 19, the key additions new GM Jalen Smyth made in the off season (Nick Paul and Dominik Kubalik) are both around 30 years of age and we think that was part of the GM’s plan. Smyth must have looked over the team he inherited and noticed most of the starters are in their mid- to late-20s, which is right about when players play their best hockey in this league. Add some Season 19 seasoning, bake for a couple years at medium heat, and Smyth could be serving up a right tasty meal for London fans. While the defense corps is primarily younger guys who are going to experience some growing pains, (Editor’s note: A late signing added veteran Marcus Pettersson and he should be on the top pair with Ryan Lindgren) Smyth’s two goalies both feel they have something to prove, and that’s one of those intangible factors that tend to propel a squad. Niko Hovinen, 35, was Munich’s main man for a year and a half but when they let him go, the Red Bulls took off and were the top team by the end of the regular season. He really wants to show he wasn’t holding back any team or any player. Look for a fire in his eyes behind his goalie mask this season. And Hayden Hawkey is back in the game. Hawkey was an excellent backup goalie for Lisbon from Season 5 to Season 11, kind of becoming the model of how backup goalies are supposed to play. But since then, he was only used one season (by Belfast in Season 16) and boy, was he impressive. In 19 appearances that year, he posted a 2.65 goals against average and a career-best save percentage of 90.6. In Act 3 of his fragmented career, Hawkey will be looking to cement his reputation as one of the EURO League’s most trusted backup goalies. All in all, London looks to be in excellent shape: comfortably under the salary cap with several promising prospects in the farm system behind a starting lineup at that average age where teams usually climb the standings. Their biggest hurdle, as Smyth will find out, is that they play in the very tough Northern Conference, a place where every inch of ice is a battle.
Rose’s Focus
“Bloody shocking, it was, when we learned (how do you like my British accent?) that the new boss in town burst out of the gate and said Dominik Lakatos is for sale? We were just getting used to the fact Jalen Smyth doesn’t have an “i” in his name when he said “Dominik Lakatos is available for teams that are going for a championship in the next few seasons. Looking at rebuilding this London squad…” I nearly coughed up me crumpets, I did … although I admit I have no idea what crumpets are. Please don’t tell me they are me ovaries, or something like that. Anyway, Lakatos is the kind of player every general manager dreams about. He’s not very physical, but he excels at every other aspect of the game including faceoffs. His defensive awareness is phenomenal, he has three 40-goal seasons on his resume and last year, he scored 111 points. If the Monarchs are going to let him go elsewhere, they best pull in a king’s ransom in return, I reckon (still rockin’ that accent). Lakatos has been London’s leading scorer for 8 of the last 9 years and he’s only 28 today. So far, it appears Smyth has not been presented a trade proposal sufficient to land Lakatos and a lot of supporters from Bournemouth to Norwich are happy about that.
