The offseason transfer period did not slow down for the Hungarian national team even though it is the start of the summer vacation season. István Bartalis is leaving Fehérvár AV19 and the EBEL after two seasons to play in the German DEL and under the hand of head coach Pat Cortina with the Schwenninger Wild Wings.
After starting off his professional career with Troja-Ljungby, Bartalis moved to Hungary two summers ago to play for Fehérvár AV19. He missed the 2015 World Championships with a knee injury, but recovered and was arguably even better than ever as he was the leading scorer for Hungary at this past years World Championships. This offseason Bartalis is on the move again to a new club, István took time out from his busy summer schedule to talk to icehockey.hu about how he ended up in the DEL and what other options he had.
How did the idea of you making a move to the DEL came about?
Coach Pat Cortina showed interest in signing me, but with the history that Pat and Gábor Ocskay Sr. had Pat decided to ask Gábor if they could sign me. I had sat down and talked with Gábor and told him that I would rather make a move to Schwenninger than to a Czech Extraleague team because here the coach really wanted me to play, instead for the team or maybe in a league where they might look down on Hungarians.
There was an opportunity with the St.Louis Blues of the NHL, how realistic was that?
The Blues had a scout that had gotten in touch with Hannu Jarvenpaa and later my agent Frank Banham. Frank had also talked to the coach of the AHL affiliate of the Blues as well. I had to make a decision by July 15th if I was going to stay with Volán or not. The Blues had said that they would like me to come out to the prospect camp and after that they would decide to sign me to an AHL contract and invite me to the Blues training camp, but there was also a chance that I might only stick with the ECHL team. Basically there was nothing guaranteed, they were inviting me for a tryout and I would not know anything until after the 15th since all the prospect camps are going on right now.
What do you think Pat Cortina expects from you for the upcoming season?
He would like me to play center for him, which means I need to be able to play well in both the offensive and defensive ends of the ice. I need to play a balanced game, there are also a number of young players on the team so I also need to show a good example for them as I also get accustomed to the style of play in the league. I also need to show that I deserve to be here and show that I am not here because I’m one of Pat’s guys.
You played well at the end of the season and had during the World Championships, what do you expect from yourself personally?
I hope to play as much as I can and to show that I belong at this level, have an injury free season and have the team have a successful season as well. I do not have any statistic goals such as point per game or anything like that.