During his spell with the club from Tatarstan last season, Dawes registered 23 goals and 20 assists in 47 regular season games, before adding six more points in 14 games as Ak Bars made it to the Eastern Conference finals.

In the 2019/20 CHL season, Adler Mannheim made it to the Round of 16 before crashing out against Czech upstarts Mountfield HK, who made it all the way to the Final.

With Dawes on their roster, alongside stalwarts Matthias Plachta, David Wolf, and Markus Eisenschmid, Mannheim may just have what it takes to mount a serious push for the CHL title this season.

Jiří Sekáč (F) – Lausanne HC

Jiří Sekáč is another who will make his CHL debut this season after a successful career on both sides of the Atlantic. The 29-year-old Czech forward signed with Switzerland’s Lausanne HC this summer after winning the KHL’s Gagarin Cup with Avangard Omsk.

He was also part of Ak Bars Kazan’s 2018 Gagarin Cup winning squad, scoring 13 points in 15 playoff games.

Sekáč brings intensity at both ends of the ice, which helped him earn an NHL contract with the Montreal Canadiens ahead of the 2014/15 season. In two seasons in North America, he scored 29 points in 108 regular season NHL games.

He joins a Lausanne side that is keen for CHL success after the club’s debut season in the competition in 2019/20, especially as fellow forward Christoph Bertschy enters his prime.

Erik Thorell (F) – Sparta Prague

Sparta Prague last played in the Champions Hockey League back in 2016/17. In that storied campaign, the club from the Czech capital made it all the way to the Final before losing to Frölunda Gothenburg.

After several disappointing seasons in the Extraliga, Sparta look to have their mojo back, and they sealed their place in the 2021/22 edition of the CHL by topping the domestic table at the end of the regular season.

The team still has a way to go to return to the glory days of old, but a strong summer of acquisitions could put Sparta on track.

We could have listed Czech defenceman Michal Moravčík, who joined Sparta from Finland’s Tappara Tampere this offseason, as our player to watch, but we feel that Swedish forward Erik Thorell could be the missing piece that could bring Sparta success on both the domestic and European stage.

The 29-year-old forward has already made a name for himself in the Champions Hockey League. He iced in the competition with TPS Turku in 2016/17 and IFK Helsinki from 2017 to 2019, but he was truly a force to be reckoned with in the 2019/20 campaign.

In five games in the tournament with EV Zug, Thorell racked up a staggering 10 points alongside sharpshooter Lino Martschini. 

If Thorell can find similar chemistry with his new teammates, be sure to watch out.

Lassi Lehtinen (G) – Lukko Rauma

We had to show some love to the goalies.

Lukko Rauma are set to return to the Champions Hockey League for the first time since the 2016/17 season. The Finnish side have always been a challenging matchup for anyone on the European stage, and we feel that Lassi Lehtinen will make that task even tougher for their opponents.

Lehtinen, just 22 years of age, backstopped Lukko Rauma last season to their first Finnish title since 1963, winning goaltender of the year honours along the way.

The Lahti native finished the regular season with a remarkable 0.940 save percentage, and in 11 playoff games, his goals against average was a paltry 1.63.

Lehtinen might just have what it takes to make Lukko a difficult task for any team in the CHL to unlock this season.

Ryan Lasch (F) - Frölunda Gothenburg

You really didn’t think that we would leave him out, did you? Ryan Lasch has been the player to watch throughout the Champions Hockey League’s entire history.

Lasch is a three-time CHL champion, three-time LGT Top Scorer, and two-time MVP. His 91 points in just 60 CHL games is 36 more than anyone else, and the California native looks primed to begin another historic campaign this season.

The 34-year-old forward spent the 2020/21 season away from Gothenburg, splitting the campaign between the Lahti Pelicans in Finland (37 points in 26 games), and ZSC Lions Zurich in the Swiss NL (22 points in 32 games).

However, Lasch wouldn't stay away from Sweden for long, as he put pen to paper on a new three-year contract with Frölunda this summer as the Gothenburg club looks to get back on top after a disappointing SHL campaign last time round.

We’re ready for more history to be written.