GM: Neil Taylor
Coach: Marco Sturm
Last season: 20th overall. Did not make playoffs
Ins and Outs
(Season 18 to Season 19)
In: Jake Debrusk (free agent), Beckett Sennecke (draft), Vince Dunn (free agent), Ty Dellandrea (free agent), Ozzie Wiesblatt (draft), Nico Daws (draft), Lawson Crouse (free agent), Michal Kristof (free agent)
Out: Ty Emberson (free agent), Kilian Van Gorp (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Jake Debrusk/Valentin Nussbaumer/Christian Fischer
Tyson Jost/Tim Stutzle/Jordan Kyrou
Noah Cates/Cole Sillinger/Ty Dellandrea
Zachary Bolduc/Blake Lizotte/Owen Tippett
Vince Dunn/Layne Viveiros
J.J. Moser/Seth Jones
Linus Hogberg/Simon Gnyp
Carl Lindbom/Jake Oettinger
A Question
Where is Liverpool headed? It appears Liverpool’s plan is centered squarely on the future. Aside from resigning two of their best players in Christian Fischer and Layne Viveiros, the Boss Scousers did little in the off season. And they have about $15 million of cap space to play with. Young forwards Tim Stutzle, Jordan Kyrou, Cole Sillinger, Zachary Bolduc and recent prospect Beckett Sennecke will lead this team to greater heights someday, but they are being groomed carefully by management. Valentin Nussbaumer and Noah Cates already have a lot of value to Liverpool and they have been given more ice time. Unfortunately, they both experienced very difficult seasons last year. Nussbaumer missed nearly a quarter of the season and Cates, renowned for his defense, was -40 with a -46 turnover ratio. The Scousers seem ready to make a modest leap up the standings this season. You never know how far you can go when you have Carl Lindbom in goal. We have seen him steal many games already in his four-year career and we’ve watched his goals against average shrink from 3.58 to 2.98 in that time. His save percentage rose to 91 last season. Lindbom has already proven he is one of the best goalies in the league, and once he gets more support from the team, the back door is locked shut and there is nowhere to go but forward.
Rose’s Focus
“Valentin Nussbaumer is battling something few have to and no one wants to. The first overall pick in the Season 13 draft is fighting being labeled a bust. The Swiss centerman has yet to hit 20 goals and has only once reached the 50-point plateau. But let’s give this poor guy a break. Scouts never expected to him to be a sniper; he was billed as an excellent playmaker and solid defensive center. Even so, most would agree with little old me that Nussbaumer has been disappointing. The neck injury he suffered against Berlin on Feb. 9 hurt his season for sure. (He was skating past the Smurfs bench when he suddenly went down. Videos of what actually happened were inconclusive.) That cost Liverpool a full month of his services. But I know something none of you except that Threepwood guy knows. I speak 22 languages fluently and I know Nussbaum is walnut tree in German. Walnut trees are strong and they stand for a long time. I know that because I just looked it up. It also says ‘It takes 4 to 10 years for a walnut tree to start producing nuts.’ Valentin is entering his sixth season in the league this year so I am hoping I will be seeing his nuts very soon.”
