GM: Daniel Podmanicky
Coach: Joel Quenneville
Last season: 8th overall. In playoffs, lost to Milan
Ins and Outs
(Season 18 to Season 19)
In: Carter Hart (free agent), Joey Daccord (free agent), Dalibor Dvorsky (trade)
Out: Jake Guentzel (trade), Ethan Bear (trade), Stanislav Galimov (free agent)
Potential Lineup
Brady Tkachuk/Matty Beniers/Martin Necas
Alexis Lafreniere/Aleksander Barkov/Cole Caufield
Alex Newhook/Adam Fantilli/Danton Heinen
Juraj Slavkovsky/Dalibor Dvorsky/Matt Coronato
Sam Girard/Erik Cernak
Rasmus Sandin/Martin Fehervary
Jonas Brondberg/Kevin Korchinski
Calvin Pickard/Carter Hart
A Question
How much does Kosice hate Milan right about now? Kosice made a nice move up the standings last season – from 16th to 8th overall. But the last weeks of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs were exhausting thanks to one team: Milan. In the regular season, the two teams battled to the finish for home ice advantage in the playoffs. For both clubs, the rest of the league faded away as they focused on their own battle. Kosice ended up winning it by 3 points. In the playoffs, they battled again, with Milan finally breaking the home ice edge in Game 7 with a 4-3 win, getting two goals from Matthew Tkachuk while his brother Brady watched from the Kosice bench, waiting for his next shift each time. Kosice fans were thrilled with their team’s improvement in Season 18 but disappointed in the ending. They should also be happy about this coming season and the foreseeable future. Kosice has a very strong forward unit in place, led by two solid lines centered by Aleksander Barkov and leading scorer Matty Beniers, with youngsters Adam Fantilli, Juraj Slavkovsky, Cole Caufield and Matt Coronato learning the game and preparing to make up the next wave of stars that Kosice’s opponents will have to deal with. The fans love that the defense pairs include two guys from Slovakia (Erik Cernak and Martin Fehervary) and with Sam Girard just hitting his peak years, expectations are high that Kosice can go further in the playoffs this season. General Manager Daniel Podmanicky’s biggest challenge going into the season was the salary cap. It forced talented winger Jake Guentzel to the farm club and fitting his $8 million salary into the lineup seemed much more difficult than trying to maximize his trade value and he was dealt to Zurich for a second-round pick.
Rose’s Focus
“I really hate to admit this, but maybe that party-hearty GM in Berlin, Guybrush Threepwood, actually knew what he was doing with goalie Calvin Pickard. After a solid decade as Berlin’s starter and seeing lots of success, Pickard was treated by Threepwood like a feeble old man in Season 17. He was used in just 22 games. It turns out Guybrush was saving Pickard for the playoffs, where he played 20 games. Then he was let go. Kosice signed him and played him in 61 games, proving Threepwood didn’t know what he was talking about. Or at least that’s what I thought. When Kosice reached the playoffs, Pickard seemed to struggle, posting a save percentage of just 86.9 and Kosice was suddenly out. General Manager Daniel Podmanicky addressed that situation right away, signing younger goalies Carter Hart and Joey Daccord in the off season and it looks like the 35-year-old Pickard will be getting a little more rest from now on. Pomanicky is no dummy. He’s smart enough to know even good, honest people can learn a little from Threepwood. “
