Playoffs or bust. After just missing out on the MOL League playoffs last season FTC has only only goal in mind and that is to make the playoffs.
Team president Kornél Almássy said “we just missed out on the playoffs by a hair, this offseason we tried to sign players who would not only help us on the ice but also will have the correct attitude.”
Management has decided to stick with the coaching duo of Tamás Dobos and Hakan Nygren, on paper Dobos is the head coach and Nygren is his assistant.
The previous season there was a strong Scandinavian flavor amongst the import players since all of them were from either Sweden or Finland, except for the goalie Michal Meravy, none of the imports from the past season were brought back. Ferencváros along with the imports will also have to replace six stable MOL League players who signed with the new team Debrecen in the off season.
Between the pipes will the veteran Krisztián Budai providing stability and consistency. Joining Budai for the upcoming season will be Robert Marton, who in the last couple of seasons had been a regular starter in the Slovak second division. The games will probably be split between them 50/50, with both Marton and Budai being at least 34 years old the 17 year old László Soós could get a couple games in net.
On defence Ferencváros looks solid and stable, this is actually where they look the strongest. Ales Cerny and Dominik Kramar are the two import defencemen who have experinced not only the top leagues in the home countries, Czech Republic and Slovakia respectively but have also played in top level leagues throughout Europe. FTC also strengthened the blue line by signing two Hungarian national team players in András Horváth and Ádám Hegyi, these are two huge signings for Fradi. Tamás Lencsés is back in Budapest after having a lights out season in New Zealand and the 21 year old Gergely Géczi has developed nicely and should take more of a leadership role in the upcoming season.
The forward contingent looks thin on numbers but they make that up with experience. Ferencváros could struggle to get four full lines game in and game out. Gergely Borbás is coming off of an injury and probably won't be healthy at the start of the season. With one line worth of forwards signing with Debrecen, Ferencváros brought in a line of experienced veterans. Vladimir Dubek and Attila Rafaj came from Miskolc and Vaclav Novak was signed from Csíkszereda. Also being signed was an “old new” face in Illés Galló who has come back to FTC after spending the last couple of years playing junior hockey in Canada. David Croteau and Marek Mikusovic round out the import players.
After last season where FTC was in the thick of things, this season should be exciting from start to finish for the green and white.
Photo: László Mudra