Three time defending champion DVTK looks to add a fourth league title to the trophy case at the end of the 2017-18 season. The team has reloaded on imports and added Hungarian veterans.
During this run of three titles, the Miskolc teams had gone through four coaches, and hope to add a fourth title under the direction of a fifth coach.
Normally a team with two goalies who are 20 years at the start of the season means a lack of experience, with DVTK both Attila Adorján and Bene Kiss will be entering their third season of professional hockey. Adorján has been the number one netminder for the better part of the past two seasons.
It looks like Jarkko Leppanen has found a home in Miskolc as he will be starting his third season with DVTK, it is very rare for an import to play three seasons with the same team in Hungary. Anssi Rantonen is the other import defender. DVTK has traditionally relied on having more than two import blueliners to support the D-man unit. Mátyás Vojtkó and Balázs Gőz are two Hungarian defencemen who should round out the top two defensive pairings. One interesting addition is Hungarian-Canadian Jed Rusk, he had spent one season of juniors playing in Székesfehérvár going to university in Canada. Balázs Láda adds veteran experience to the unit. Behind these 6 there is not much depth, they could be in trouble if two of these players get injured, Ákos Laczkó might get playing time but at the age of 25 he isn't considered young anymore.
DVTK returns four out of their top six scorers, Bálint Magosi, Nikandroz Galanisz, Attila Pavuk and Adrián Tóth are all back however Roland Hajós will be missing the start of the season as he recovers from an offseason surgery. Import forward Pete Sakaris, who missed part of the season is back as well. The addition of Hungarian national team forward János Vas to the top two lines will be huge, along with the addition of two imports, Rasmus Kulmala and Ned Lukacevic. Márkó Miskolczi, Gergő Tóth and Roland Köllö will be fighting for the final spot in the top three lines. The fourth line will most likely be made up of young forwards, this means DVTK will rotate 10-11 forwards. With three stacked lines, scoring should not be a problem for the team.
Mikael Tisell will be starting his first coaching year outside of Sweden. He has coached at every level with club teams and has also worked with the Swedish U18 and U20 national teams. However there will be some familiar faces in the locker room as János Vas used to be his player.
DVTK Jegesmedvék should make it back to the finals for the fourth straight season.
János Vas: The preseason started well and we played some good games in this preseason Visegrad Cup as well. We were able to learn a lot from this. We have three wins and we tried to do the most to prepare for the season. We still have one more game before the season starts. We have a great group of guys who are willing to fight for each other and work as a team regardless of what will happen with us. If things do not workout during a game we can push a reboot and start the next game with a clear head. We strong both in the front and the back end, as well as in the net. Yes there is pressure on us to win a fourth title, which is completely normal in a situation like this. There was pressure on the team to win the third title, now the team knows how to react in a situation like this.
Key Additions: János Vas (Fehérvár, EBEL), Gergő Tóth (UTE), Rasmus Kulmala, Anssi Rantanen (Opole, Poland), Ned Lukacevic (Quad City, ECHL), Roland Köllö (Northumberland, GMHL)
Key Departures: Martin Sági (UTE), Joni Tuominen (Ferencváros), Grant Toulmin (Sydney, AIHL), Andrew Johnston (Chamonix, France) Nick Kuqali (Vienna), Colin Joe (Unknown)
