The 2016 edition of the Spengler Cup starts tomorrow. Most teams this year are returning from last year, with another coming back after a six year hiatus and another making their debut.
Group Torriani is led by last year's runner-up HC Lugano, who will look avenge a tough lost in last year's final. Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg is also back, and hope to improve on a semi-final lost. Rounding out the group is Czech team Mountfield HK, who are first-time Spengler Cup competitors.
Group Cattini has last year's winner, Team Canada, highlighting the group, as they look to defend their title. The host HC Davos is in the group as well, and will want to end a four year title drought. Dinamo Minsk are back for the first time since 2009, when they went on to win the tournament. They will want to repeat their performance from last time.
Note: Rosters (mostly) from Spengler Cup website.
Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (KHL)
Goalies: Ivan Lisutin, Vladimir Sokhatskiy, Igor Ustinsky
Defensemen: Michal Cajkovsky, Tommi Kivisto, Dmitri Megalinsky, Nikita Shchitov, Nikolia Timashov, Pavel Turbin, Alexei Vasilevsky, Valeri Vasilyev, Yegor Zhuravlyov
Forwards: Andrei Alexeyev, Jan Buchtele, Evgeny Chesalin, Stanislav Chistov, Artyom Gareyev, Anatoli Golyshev, Oleg Gubin, Petr Koukal, Alexei Mikhnov, Denis Mingaleyev, Dmitry Monya, Alexander Romanov, Alexei Simakov, Rok Ticar, Alexander Torchenyuk, Konstantin Volkov
Top Threat: The trio of Gareyev, Ticar, and Torchenyuk lead the way offensively for this team.
Weakness: The team does have some trouble scoring, goaltending has been average at best this year.
Dinamo Minsk (KHL)
Goalies: Mikhail Karnaukhov, Kevin Lalande, Ben Scrivens
Defensemen: Nick Bailen, Kirill Gotovets, Marc-Andre Gragnani, Kristian Khenkel, Pavel Kazakevich, Dmitry Korobov, Evgeny Lisovets, Nikita Mitskevich, Ilya Shinkevich, Dmitry Znakharenko
Forwards: Dmitry Ambrozheichik, Sergei Drozd, Matt Ellison, Artur Gavrus, Nikita Komarov, Danila Karaban, Sergei Kostitsyn, Evgeny Kovyrshin, Alexander Kitarov, Rob Klinkhammer, Alexander Kulakov, Stanislav Lopachuk, Alexander Materukhin, Alexander Pavlovic, Fredrik Pettersson, Andrei Stas, Andrei Stepanov, Artyom Volkov
Top Threat: They are coming in with some momentum, having won their last five games. Have quite a few weapons offensively, including Ellison, who is currently top ten in the KHL in points.
Weakness: Scrivens, who has played in all but three games, has been average this season.
HC Lugano (NLA)
Goalies: Daniel Manzato, Elvis Merzlikins, Stefan Muller
Defensemen: Alessandro Chiesa, Philippe Furrer, Dominique Heinrich*, Steve Hirschi, Elia Riva, Massimo Ronchetti, Riccardo Sartori, Daniel Sondell, Stefan Ulmer, Julien Vauclair, Ryan Wilson, James Wisniewski*
Forwards: Alessio Bertaggia, Damien Brunner, Dario Burgler, Luca Fazzini, Ryan Gardner, Gregory Hofmann, Linus Klasen, Maxime Lapierre, Tony Martensson, Giovanni Morini, Sebastien Reuille, Matteo Romanenghi, Raffaelle Sannitz, Ryan Vesce*, Julian Walker, Patrik Zackrisson
Top Threat: Klasen is currently second in the league in points, thanks in large to his playmaking abilities.
Weakness: Merzlikins has fallen off a bit from last season.
Mountfield HC (Czech Extraliga)
Goalies: Ondrej Kacetl, Jaroslav Pavelka, Patrik Rybar
Defensemen: Zdenek Cap, Stanislav Dietz, Blaz Gregorc, Jake Newton, Martin Planek, Martin Stajnoch, Rene Vydareny
Forwards: Jaroslav Bednar, Petr Beranek, Rudolf Cerveny, Rastislav Dej, Michal Dragoun, Andris Dzerins, Richard Jarusek, Tomas Knotek, Bedrich Kohler, Roman Kukumberg, Lukas Lhotak*, Thibaut Monnet*, Radovan Pavlik, Alexandre Picard, Jiri Simanek
Top Threat: Bednar and Jarusek lead the way offensively, as both are top ten in the Czech Extraliga. Rybar is fourth in save percentage.
Weakness: Could use some more production from the defense.
HC Davos (NLA - Host)
Goalies: Melvin Nyffeler, Gilles Senn
Defense: Felicien du Bois, Marco Forrer, Beat Forster, Fabian Heldner, Sven Jung, Simon Kindschi, Claude-Curdin Paschoud, Daniel Rahimi, Noah Schneeberger
Forwards: Andres Ambuhl, Enzo Corvi, Chris Egli, Adam Hall*, Tino Kessler, Robert Kousal, Per Ledin*, Perttu Lindgren, Tuomo Ruutu, Gregory Sciaroni, Drew Shore*, Dario Simion, Samuel Walser, Dino Wieser, Marc Wieser
Top Threat: Reinforcement Drew Shore is having a good year in the NLA, with Lindgren right behind him in points.
Weakness: Losing Leonard Genoni in goal has really hurt them.
Team Canada
Goalies: Jordan Cooke, Zachary Fucale, Drew MacIntyre
Defensemen: Mark Flood, Charles Genoway, Shaun Heshka, Shaone Morrisonn, Maxim Noreau, Blake Parlett, Daniel Vukovic
Forwards: Gregory Campbell, Chris DiDomenico, Andrew Ebbett, Cory Emmerton, Colby Genoway, Dustin Jeffrey, David McIntyre, Jacob Micflikier, Marc-Andre Pouliot, Mason Raymond, James Sheppard, Nicholas Spaling
Top Threat: Good mix of returning players and new ones (highlighted by Campbell and Raymond, free agents who would want to prove they can still play).
Weakness: Not having Colin Campbell hand out discipline might hurt their chances a bit.
*denotes reinforcement players
Predictions
Group Torriani
1 - HC Lugano
2 - Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg
3 - Mountfield HK
Group Cattini
1 - Dinamo Minsk
2 - Team Canada
3 - HC Davos
Final
Dinamo Minsk - HC Lugano
Winner: Dinamo Minsk
HC Lugano looks to have an easy path to first in Group Torriani, while Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg beats Mountfield HK for second. I like Dinamo Minsk a lot, and can see them edging out Team Canada for tops in Group Cattini. HC Davos is the odd team out, and gets last place in the group. Quarter-finals are likely to see a sweep for Group Cattini, as Team Canada beats Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg, while HC Davos eliminates Mountfield HK. The semi-finals it tougher to predict. Dinamo Minsk might edge out Team Canada in their rematch. HC Lugano likely takes care of their Swiss counterpart HC Davos in their matchup. Dinamo Minsk and HC Lugano face off in the final. I like both teams chances, but the Belarussian squad looks stronger. HC Lugano is doomed to repeat last year's result, as Dinamo Minsk takes the cup.
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