Group C is one of the more varied for travelling, with trips to central Finland, Belarus and central Europe on the cards; and arguably one of the more difficult to predict the two qualifiers.
Vienna Capitals
- EBEL champions, 2 titles overall
- 4th CHL appearance, R16 in 14/15 & 15/16
- Club information
The undisputed EBEL vhampions in 2016/17, Vienna blitzed the league winning the regular season with an 11-point cushion, the 'pick round', and the playoffs without dropping a game. Key to that was the goaltending of Jean-Phillipe Lamoureux, and the goals of former SHL player Riley Holzapfel. Former NHLer Andreas Nödl is another standout name on the team. The Capitals were unfortunate in last season's CHL, finishing last in their group behind KalPa & Skelleftea - although having beaten the Swedes home and away, they must have felt somewhat unlucky not to advance. In their march to the Round of 16 in 14/15, they famously beat the ZSC Lions in the group stage, so are not without scalps to their name in the CHL.
EV Zug
- NLA finalists, 1 title (1997/98)
- 4th CHL appearance, R16 in 2016/17
- Club information
Last season, EV Zug made the NLA finals for the first time since 1998 but were unable to overcome SC Bern, losing out in six games. Their roster for this season sees the addition of Garrett Roe from Linkoping (37 points last season) alongside the return of many players from the past year. Having failed to make it past the group stage in the CHL for two straight seasons, EVZ finally broke their slump last year and got to the Round of 16 where they were somewhat surprisingly defeated by Eisbären Berlin. After last year's Swiss 'awakening' in the CHL, Harold Kreis's team will be looking to at least make the playoffs.
JYP Jyväskylä
- Liiga semi-finals, 2 titles (last in 2011/12)
- 4th CHL appearance; R16
- Club information
JYP have become a solid top-five team in the Liiga over recent years, not finishing outside that position in 10 seasons, but they have only two titles to their name in that time and have lost in the playoff semi-finals the last three years in a row. While JYP have always gone out of the CHL playoffs early, they had consistently lost to teams that have gone on to make at least the Quarter- or Semi-Finals. This year's roster sees them bring back experienced centre Jarko Immonen from Zug, eight years after he last played for the team, while Mikko Mäenpää also returns from two years in Switzerland.
Neman Grodno
- Extraliga champions, 5 titles overall
- 2nd CHL appearance; Continental Cup champions in 2014/15
- Club information
Neman Grodno lost only 10 regular season games last year, but still finished behind Yunost Minsk - such was the dominance of both teams over 42 games. Unsurprisingly, the two teams met in the league finals, with Neman coming through in a four-game sweep. The Belarus club famously beat Adler Mannheim on home ice two years ago in their first CHL game, and should not be underestimated on their own ice. Like Yunost, though, Belarusian teams have yet to travel well in the CHL.