GM: Petr Barilla
Coach: John Tortorella
Last season: 18th overall. Did not make playoffs
Ins and Outs
(Season 18 to Season 19)
In: Tyler Seguin (free agent), Jack Quinn (trade), Shane Pinto (trade), Jet Greaves (draft), Jonathan Drouin (free agent), John Klingberg (waivers), Lukas Dostal (trade), Oliver Kapanen (draft),
Out: Alexander Salak (free agent), Jason Zucker (free agent), Brandon Hagel (trade), Peyton Krebs (trade), Noah Paixao (trade), Nikita Zadorov (waivers), Connor Brown (free agent), Conor Garland (free agent),
Potential Lineup
Jonathan Drouin/Dylan Larkin//Drake Batherson
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins/Curtis Lazar/Petteri Puhakka
Mason McTavish/Shane Pinto/Jack Quinn
William Eklund/Oliver Kapanen/Jiri Kulich
Noah Hanifin/Jakob Chychrun
John Klingberg/Ryan Pulock
Tobias Bjornfot/Zeev Buium
Jet Greaves/Lukas Dostal
A Question
Did the Philsophers improve this off season? The Philosophers did more than sit around and think about life in Season 18; they jumped up five spots in the standings, missing the playoffs by 6 points. The defense corps was expected to carry the load for Athens and the blueliners were an important part of the Phils’ puzzle. But General Manager Petr Barilla shuffled that group during the season, trading away Esa Lindell and Neal Pionk, getting Nikita Zadorov and some good young talent in return. Now Zadorov is gone and there has been more shuffling, according to the Season 19 lineup we’ve seen penciled in. Left wing Mason McTavish moves down to the third line, Jonathan Drouin could get top-line ice time for the first time in his career, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, 36, moves to the left wing and down to the second line, Beck Malenstyn is now Bench Malenstyn, etc. It will be a different look for the Philosophers. A lot will be expected of Drouin, Dylan Larkin and Drake Batherson on the top line. This team has to get more shots and goals each game and those three will be looked to for that. They will be joined by Nugent-Hopkins while the Philosophers have a power play, and that unit, with Ryan Pulock back at the blueline, needs to improve on the team’s 21st ranking in PP efficiency. Petteri Puhakka and Jason Zucker were among the team’s top three PP goal producers last year and neither is on that unit. Zucker is off the team, in fact. The biggest change on this team this off season came on draft day. Jet Greaves was picked 7th overall and he will step right in as the main man in goal for Athens. The 24-year-old is confident but young goalies often take some seasoning before they command the goal crease. A playoff berth for Athens is definitely possible. They need to take the close games and improve their home record from the 17-21-3 they posted last season.
Rose’s Focus
“Let’s look ahead a little to Ancient Greece. Doesn’t make sense to you, does it? Look ahead? To Ancient Greece? A contradiction perhaps? To look ahead, you should look back first, a great hockey league woman recently said, so I went to the internet asking for a list of the Greek gods. The list contained 20 names. The Athens Philosophers’ starting lineup for every game lists 20 players. Coincidence? Each god had his or her specialty: the goddess of inevitability, the god of mountains, etc. The Athens hockey team seems to have players who have their own specialized skills too. Take the defense for example. Andrew Peeke likes to clear out the front of the net but he hates seeing the puck coming toward him. John Klingberg is very skilled but he doesn’t like to touch other people. Perhaps he’s a germaphobe. Jakob Chychrun is very fast, but not strong. Ryan Pulock is smart, strong and fast, but he doesn’t play defensive hockey all that well any more. You get the picture. The whole team is kind of like that. Nobody on the whole team is good at every single part of the game. I certainly don’t envy the coach of this club. If he decides to insert a player to plug a certain attribute hole, there’s suddenly another one down the line to get to. Whack-a-Mole at its most frustrating. Having 20 gods with specialized skills seemed to work well for Ancient Greece. Let’s see if John Tortorella can find the right combination for Athens too.”
