Which club excels and which does not meet the requirements: The big Blick ranking

How do they do that? Sports director Duca finds the right people with surgical precision and coach Cereda then deploys these people in such a way that the cross sum leads to the best possible result. It’s easy to say, but it’s a dance on the edge. Fans need to remember that every now and then.

Last season, Friborg failed in the pre-play-offs against Lugano. Now the Dubé team is looking at the competition from above – despite three recent defeats. The balance in the team is good, the hut is always full, the atmosphere is great. Gottéron, what more could you want? About the first title?

Coach Paterlini and sports director Müller have transformed an oasis of well-being without a performance culture into a serious organization with charisma in an astonishingly short time. In which even gems such as Zanetti or, in the future, Fahrni now find their place for further development.

The extra burdens of the Champions Hockey League are a thing of the past, the full potential flows into the championship. Zug’s scoring machine is running smoothly again – despite a poor power play. The loss of Leitwolf Kovar was recently more than compensated. The balance in the team does not suffer even with changing line compositions.

After years of struggle, the luxury team is once again showing its class. If it pushes hard, it can overwhelm any opponent. Sports director Leuenberger had good hands with the new foreigners Frödén, Balcers and Grant. Only: The Lions are judged on whether they can sing ‘We Are the Champions’ for the first time since 2018.

Coach Tapola has achieved something that his predecessors have tried in vain since the last title in 2019: SCB has a face again. The playing style already bears the signature of the successful Finnish coach, the defense is stable, goalkeeper Reideborn provides support and there is something like calm in the club.

The Jurassians are still at the bottom of the table (as expected), but have scored six points in a row in recent times. Coach Wohlwend has given the team a suitable (defensive) system and with the increased self-confidence and the new acquisitions of Timashov and Sopa, the offensive output is now also good.

To describe Lugano as constant (good) would be a propaganda lie. But Gianinazzi managed to overcome a major crisis without outside intervention and limit the final crisis to three games after an interim highlight. Next task: banishing moodiness.

A year ago the LHC would have been last in this category. The price-performance ratio was still in a dismal range. The Lausanne team is still expensive, but with a little more peace and consistency in the wardrobe, they now offer more. Not always, but often.

You see an amplitude team at work that probably does not understand its own fluctuations: victories in Zurich and Geneva are put into perspective by smooth defeats against Ajoie. However: Holden has stabilized its defensive base (fewest goals conceded behind Zurich and Zug) – a reason for optimism.

The Geneva champions are still in trouble. Although the departed top players Omark and Tömmernes were replaced and the majority of the title team remained together, Servette no longer plays as sexy. The once hot offense is inefficient and the defense is not solid. And Mayer’s goals against average of 3.4 doesn’t help either.

Last Friday’s spectacular derby victory brightened the mood in the airport city. Otherwise the discussion would have flared up as to whether team leader Mitchell and his coach Fleming know what they are doing. Also because the foreign staff (Metsola, Ang, Aaltonen and Ojamäki) do not reach the required pension level.

Rappi has established itself as a top team with a third place last season and a fourth place last season. But the honeymoon seems to be over. Defeats against Kloten, Langnau and Ajoie of late have exposed defensive shortcomings. Your loyalty to the system is lost. Furthermore, once reliable goal scorers are not getting up to speed.

Once the Seelanders have entered the new sphere of a top team as play-off finalists, they no longer meet these requirements. New coach, new system, many injuries, many fluctuations in form – and then the sell-out becomes more and more concrete. That’s too many construction sites.