GM: Eugene Wilkinson
Coach: Dan Bylsma
Last season: 1st overall. In playoffs, defeated Zurich defeated Milan; defeated Bern; lost to Helsinki.
Ins and Outs
(Season 18 to Season 19)
In: Wyatt Johnston, (trade), Wyatt Kaiser (trade), Aliaksei Protas (trade), Fraser Minten (draft), Callum Ritchie (draft), Egor Chinakhov (trade), Artjoms Lapiks (trade), Nejc Kastelic (trade), Mason Lohrei (waivers), Logan Mailloux (trade), Dennis Hildeby (trade)
Out: Cale Makar (trade), Jesper Bratt (trade), Tyler Seguin (free agent), Nick Paul (waiver), Shayne Gostisbehere (free agent), Mathieu Joseph (trade), Jacob Bryson (trade), Jack Roslovic (free agent), Gage Goncalves (trade), Mason Marchment (trade), Cale Fleury (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Samuel Bucek/Dylan Sikura/Clayton Keller
Casey Mittelstadt/Nejc Kastelic/Oliver Björkstrand
Juuso Parssinen/Fraser Minten/Wyatt Johnston
Egor Chinakhov/Aliaksei Protas/Callum Ritchie
Moritz Seider/Alexis Vanier
Esa Lindell/Artjoms Lapiks
Wyatt Kaiser/Mason Lohrei
Alex Nedeljkovic/Dennis Hildeby
A Question
The Red Bulls were stunning in Season 18. Their 24-0 run to end the regulation season caught every human being’s attention and catapulted them to first overall. They then went on a 12-2 run in the playoffs before wilting in the Finals against Helsinki. It was the second season in a row that the Red Bulls got past Milan and Bern in the playoffs before losing. Their run was so exciting that fans were buying Red Bulls jerseys not only in western Germany and then in eastern Germany where the Smurfs play, but also in places like Athens, Paris, New York, Los Angeles … a whole lot of places. Thanks to the Red Bulls’ social media campaigns, teenagers were putting up Dylan Sikura, Moritz Seider and General Manager Eugene Wilkinson posters in their bedrooms. The team was hot. One fire. En Fuego. The question on everyone’s mind was can these guys do something like that again in Season 19? The answer is no. They can’t. Munich might, but “these guys” are already gone for the most part. The salary cap and expired contracts prevented GM Wilkinson from keeping the great team from Season 18 together. Ahh, but what memories, eh? This season, it appears the Red Bulls will be finding their way and don’t be surprised to see them suffer a drop in points. The top three scorers are all back. Sikura scored 55 goals and 123 points last season and both Oliver Bjorkstrand (33 goals and 92 points) and Clayton Keller (32 goals and 90 points) return although rumors are that Bjorkstrand will be on the second line this year with Samuel Bucek elevated to Line 1. And Munich has three good defensemen returning in Seider, Esa Lindell and Alexis Vanier. Most importantly, Alex Nedeljkovic is back between the pipes. But the remainder of this lineup is untested and in many cases, new to the program. Also new is the coach. Wilkinson asked Dan Bylsma to coach the team this season and surprisingly, he said yes. We say it’s surprising because Bylsma has been an absolute fixture behind the bench in Madrid. He was hired to guide the Spanish team in Season 1 and there he stayed until this summer. That’s an 18-year run in Madrid for Bylsma.
Rose’s Focus
Right after the disappointing loss to Helsinki, it got even a little gloomier for my friends in Bavaria. The contracts of six starting forwards, one starting defenseman and backup goalie Andrew Dickson all ended. It was apparent to an old pro like me that the old gang would be breaking up, especially when you consider the team only had to pay $818,000 of Tyler Seguin’s salary and $1.6 million of Shayne Gostisbehere’s last year, thanks to salary retention deals GM Eugene Wilkinson put together. The only player the GM jumped to re-sign right away was Casey Mittelstadt, 29, who was 11th on the team in scoring (but tied for 4th in the playoffs). I suspect Eugene was panicking a bit because I don’t see what he sees in Mittelstadt. The kid can stick handle, sure, but he’s also as soft as the blanket I just knitted. Case in point: Two years ago, the Munich organization asked me to put on a cooking show for their fans and while I was carrying in a pot of my golumpki, a little started to spill out so I quickly stopped and adjusted slightly to my left. I thought I felt my hip touch something and I looked down to find Mittelstadt sprawled out on the floor next to me. I barely touched him. Wilkinson has asked new coach Dan Bylsma to play him on the second line with Oliver Bjorkstrand and Nejc Kastelic. That will be a great line … but only if manners and turning your back to a check count toward goals. The three players combined for a total of 18 minutes in penalties (that’s an average of 6 per guy) last season. I will be interested to see which one of them goes into the corner to get the puck when Esa Lindell dumps it in. And what if a bully like Arber Xhekaj of Gothenburg or Alexei Bereglazov of Helsinki is in that corner? “Line change!” But this organization has apparently been on a campaign to reduce penalty minutes. Dylan Sikura was taking a lot of dumb penalties when he got to Munich but his PIMs went down from 110 to 77 to 58 at the same time his offensive production went from 89 to 92 to 123 points, so the lesson was learned: keep your producers out of the box. Even I can’t argue with the Red Bulls’ recent success, so maybe I won’t be so hard on them. I know they won’t stand up to me anyway.
