The messages from the 14 NL clubs: One team sets new standards, others suffer image damage

No team sets the bar as high as the star ensemble from Zurich. Then when it’s easily skipped, like this season, people take it for granted. The Lions have set standards. No one was more consistent and stable. And Marc Crawford (63) has now led ZSC to qualifying victory in four of his five full seasons. So there can only be one goal in the play-offs.

Bravo! The Biancoblu have picked themselves up impressively after the last energy-sapping and grueling season, increasing their average points per match and finishing qualifying with a positive goal difference after years in double figures. In particular, coach Luca Cereda (42), who was about to give up begging, pulled himself together. And now he’s giving the team momentum again.

The SCB is back. And that means something after four years of epidemics. The Berners have qualified directly for the play-offs for the first time since the last championship title in 2019 and have finally managed to dispel the negativity in the area. The SCB has its DNA back. It did not take long before coach Jussi Tapola (49) signed his team. Defensive craftsmanship comes before spectacle and creativity.

Trainer Christian Dubé (46) not only delights with his sense of style when it comes to fashion – he also finds the trigger point with Ajoie trainer Christian Wohlwend (47) during a guest appearance in the Jura, which gave the audience one of the most beautiful anger- eruptions in recent years. He has gradually formed a top team from Gottéron and ensured that the performances in the beautiful arena are sold out until further notice.

A season under controlled and professional conditions – without former co-owner and troublemaker Petr Svoboda (58). And sports director John Fust (52) and coach Geoff Ward (61) are already showing that strong performances are possible in Lausanne without a touch of bandit hockey. A correction that gives the club a lot of credit and gives the team the role of co-favourites.

From the very first second, everyone in Davos was delighted with the new head coach Josh Holden (46) – a clear game idea, supported by a lot of social skills and charisma. However, the record champions struggled for a long time to get the implementation and the right playful mix on the ice. With a convincing final sprint we finally succeeded – this HCD can be a tough nut to crack.

Being in the expensive places with limited resources until the last game – that’s a testament to achievement combined with measurable progress. The play area was only a temporary problem when they caught a cold during Advent. It is impressive how the management team around coach Thierry Paterlini (48) managed to get the team back on its feet within a short time after several heavy defeats.

Enough. Not anymore. Certainly, the EVZ was often in the top trio and the play-offs were never in danger. But Zugers was (too) rarely able to meet the demands of dominant hockey this season. The longest streak of defeats (eight) under master coach Dan Tangnes (45) has certainly left its mark. The only question is whether this is disastrous – or still profitable.

When Lugano’s spectacle brothers around Thürkauf, Joly and Carr move, they often radiate magic and amaze the viewer. But if they cannot impose their active play on the opponent and take advantage of it, they often end up in the hammer. As a direct result of this, the team from Ticino also ruined their direct play-off qualification in the final stages.

Anti-Antti Petri Matikainen (57) was the wrong choice as Törmänen’s successor and had to be fired. Some, but not all, players took issue with his old-fashioned manners, which also caused division within the team. Sports director Martin Steinegger (52) was able to just avert the total defeat, but remains under heavy pressure as he has to reinvent his EHC Biel to some extent.

The master has overused the master blues quite a bit. And no matter how beautiful the parallel Champions League fairytale with the following victory was, the performance on the national stage was just as modest and disappointing. Have the title hunters in the national competition lost all tension and are they simply not in the mood anymore, or will there be something more to come when it really comes down to the sausage?

Those left behind in the competition are often admired for always being at it in some way. An achievement, Ajoie is also the big outsider in every match. Playing without pressure is something that no other club in the competition can claim. The points average has reached a new low in the third year after promotion, but the stalwart Jurassicians still deserve praise. For what? Does not matter. They’re quite nice.

Ouch, this crash hurts – and surprises. After third place in qualifying last year (and fourth place the season before), coach Stefan Hedlund (48) failed to keep the team on track. Or to give it a solid foundation that would have made it possible to compensate for failures, delay crises – or turn the wardrobe dynamics back in a positive direction.

After the unfortunate dismissal of successful coach Jeff Tomlinson (53), everything that could go wrong goes wrong in Kloten. Only in the crisis does the true quality of the management staff become clear, it is said: President Jan Schibli and his advisors really earned an A grade with some bizarre decisions. The image damage will be supplied free of charge after this season as a supplement.