Tokaji: You have to start at the Beginning

After eight season with Fehérvár AV19, Hungarian national team defenceman Viktor Tokaji is moving on to the next part of his hockey career which will be with MAC Budapest.

MAC Budapest general manager Balázs Kangyal is familiar with this move, being the national team captain and moving from Fehérvár to a new club in the MOL League, considering this he knows what he is getting in the veteran blue liner. Now Kangyal has pulled the trigger and brought in a veteran defenseman to help anchor the blueline and also be the leadership presence that a young team like MAC Budapest will need.

On the flip side Viktor Tokaji knew it was time to move on after eight seasons with Fehérvár, which he announced this past weekend. Tokaji feels it's always good to start at the beginning of something, to be a part of laying the groundwork. “I don’t think I’ll be giving anything away that me knowing Balázs Kangyal had a lot to do with my decision to sign with the team. I believe that it is the best to join into a concept or an idea that has value from the start, such as jumping into the MOL League with such a family friendly environment among the players, staff, management and the fans.”

Within reason the long time national team player had the choice of signing wherever he wanted to but he liked what the management was building. MAC also was looking at what veteran player can bring to the lookerroom, Tokaji explained this as well to icehockey.hu “I do think that one of my goals in the upcoming season is to be a good leader and set an example for this team where we can build a well working, good character based young team. Clearly I will not be adding to the youth of this club, but rather I will be bringing my years of experience and work ethic, I hope they see that it is important not only to be a good hockey player but also a great team member as well, and I think the later might be more important. We have to put our personal goals aside to fight for the team.”

Tokaji missed this past years world championships because of a foot injury he picked up at the end of the season, there was hope he would be healthy in time, but in the end he was on the coaching staff. Either way this is another player that was fighting for a national team spot that MAC Budapest has signed. “The club will still be signing players but I can see that we will have a strong team that can give anyone a run for their money.”