By Joerg Lubrich
After the 4-2 draw in Düsseldorf on Friday, the polar bears are still stuck deep in the bottom of the league table. They are the worst champions in DEL history and they are in the middle of a relegation battle.
When it comes to the causes of this, Eisbären sports director Stephane Richer (56) is the key figure. The Canadian is the league’s bad buyer.
He has been with the polar bears since 2017 and came to Berlin from the closed brother club Hamburg Freezers. Since then, “Rich” has been responsible for arrivals and departures in the sporting area. He did a very good job in the last two master years, but the childhood friend of the EHC supervisory board chairman Luc Robitaille (Los Angeles) is now out of luck and “shines” through bad purchases, inability to act and a misjudgment of the situation.
► Richer thought he could absorb top goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger’s departure to Munich with young goalkeepers Tobi Ancicka (21) and Juho Markkanen (20). A fallacy.
Polar bear keeper Tobias Ancicka Photo: City Press GmbH
Ancicka ranks 26th in the DEL goalkeeper statistics, Markkanen ranks 22nd. Top goalkeeper Henrik Haukeland (now DEG) was on the market until June (!).
► With the exception of defender Marco Nowak (32), ALL of Richer’s other newcomers turned out to be bad buys.
The Dane Peter Regin (36) has his best time behind him, is much too slow. The defender Julian Melchiori (31), who came from Wolfsburg, is afraid, does not go into duels and has never found his game. Brendan Guhle (25) was supposed to replace Kai Wissmann (26), who had migrated to the NHL, and only played seven games. He has since ended his career. More failures are in the storm.
Striker Jan Nijenhuis hasn’t been convincing either Photo: City Press
While other clubs rely on German players, the polar bears only have two top German strikers in their squad in Leo Pföderl (29) and top scorer Marcel Noebels (30). The newcomers Frank Mauer (34/was even rejected by Schwenningen before the season) and Jan Nijenhuis (21) are second-rate. German-Canadian Lewis Zerter Gossage (27) came in the middle of the season – also just average.
This season is messed up due to Richer’s many bad purchases and misjudgments. But the new season also threatens to be difficult.
BZ learned: The polar bears are currently not active enough on the market. Examples: National player Nico Krämmer (30/Mannheim) was available for a short time. But he goes to Munich. Or: Young striker Justin Schütz (22). He is moving from Munich to Cologne. As so often, the polar bears go away empty-handed…