GM: Daniel Podmanicky
Coach: Joel Quenneville
Last season: 16th overall. In playoffs, lost to Bratislava
Ins and Outs
(Season 17 to Season 18)
In: Danton Heinen (free agent), Alex Galchenyuk (free agent), Calvin Pickard (trade), Brady Tkachuk (trade), Matt Coronato (trade), Rudy Rigoni (waivers)
Out: Hampus Lindholm (trade), Emil Bemstrom (trade), Kaapo Kakko (trade), Elvis Merzlikins (free agent), Igor Shesterkin (trade),
Potential Lineup
Jake Guentzel/Aleksander Barkov/Danton Heinen
Brady Tkachuk/Matty Beniers/Martin Necas
Alexis Lafreniere/Alex Galchenyuk/Cole Caufield
Alex Newhook/Adam Fantilli/Matt Coronato
Martin Fehervary/Erik Cernak
Ethan Bear/Sam Girard
Arber Xhekaj/Kevin Korchinski
Calvin Pickard/Stanislav Galimov
A Question
Will the Slovakian team move up or down this season? We can’t answer a question like that. There are too many variables. We don’t even know why you asked it. Kosice, who placed 7th in the Southern Conference last season, has to get past Lisbon and Milan and one more conference team if it hopes for home ice advantage in the playoffs. That could be one of the team’s goals this season. Generally, if you are in that position as a team, it’s often good to keep an eye on your future and this off season was a relatively quiet one by Kosice GM Daniel Podmanicky’s standards, although he was openly thrilled when Danton Heinen picked the Slovakian team as his new home. Heinen isn’t going to muscle his way around the rink, but he does little wrong and he’s versatile. He can be inserted on any line and look like he belongs there. He just does his job. At first glance, Kosice is a solid team with good depth and a few question marks. They are still a young team with some growing to do, but they will be able to send three dangerous forward lines over the boards every game and their top two defense pairs should not be a worry for the coach. Defense pair number one is the fan’s favorite with native Slovaks Martin Fehervary and Erik Cernak paired up. What could be a worry, though, is the inexperienced players further down the lineup. There is definitely potential in Adam Fantilli, Matt Coronato, Alex Lafreniere and others, but their time is probably not Season 18. Kevin Korchinski and Arber Xhekaj as a third defense pair is a little scary, but the experience points they earn will pay dividends down the road. And the opposite problem could exist in goal, where former Smurf Calvin Pickard, 34, was signed to guard the net with Stanislav Galimov, 32, who has save percentages over .900 the last two seasons.
Rose’s Focus
“Early in the season, all eyes will be on Kosice’s additions Brady Tkachuk, Alex Galchenyuk, Danton Heinen, Calvin Pickard and youngster Matt Coronato. I predict that by mid-season, that focus will narrow to just Tkachuk for all kinds of reasons. The guy is a pain in the doopy to play against; everyone knows that. If you are a Kosice supporter, you will love him. Brady’s a bit of a thief, isn’t he? He steals the spotlight with his antics, steals the opposition goalies’ attention with his swashbuckling play, and he steals the hearts of home fans. But the things Tkachuk steals that matter most are pucks. My eagle eye for statistics caught a fact that will impress you. That’s not a surprise. I impress you often. Kosice was a perfectly average team last season in all team statistics except one. In the shots allowed column, they were poor. Only three teams gave up more shots per game. Seeing all those shots coming their way was frustrating for the fans, who I bet also did a lot of shots themselves when they watched their team play. That statistic points to puck possession, if you ask me, and by the way, thank you for asking. On that topic, let me ask you a question: are you going to hold onto the puck and try to stickhandle with psycho Brady Tkachuk barreling toward you at 51 kph? No. You are going to get rid of the thing. Shots against will go down when Tkachuk’s line is on the ice. The same could be said of Heinen but for a different reason. He’s a quiet, almost invisible, sneaky guy who has produced turnover ratios of +13 and +10 the last two seasons with London. So they have an ‘in your face’ guy and a ‘behind your back’ guy added to the team this year. Both will help them keep shots against down.”
