Dunaújváros has a rich hockey history that they would not mind adding to during the 2018-19 season. They have the potential to make a deep run in the playoffs and pull off a couple of upsets.
Last season Dunaújváros made a coaching change mid season and made a playoff push in the second half of the season. The momentum did not last long as they lost in the first round of the playoffs. In the offseason Antti Karhula was hired as the new head coach, he had spent the past few seasons coaching in the Mestis. Assisting him in his work will be former Miskolc assistant coach Mart Eerme.
Goalie Dávid Duschek left during the offseason, to replace him Dunaújváros brought a familiar face back home in former national team netminder Peter Sevela. Sevela’s netminding partner will be Máté Garbacz who is a young goalie with great potential and upside.
Dunaújváros has the depth on the back end for them to roll with three defensive pairings. Finnish defender Miika Franssila brings Liiga experience to the unit and should be their top shut down player. The other import defenseman on the team is Henrich Jabornik, who was a point per game player last season for Ferencváros and had played previously in the steel city. Tamás Erdély and István Mestyán are two experienced defencemen in the league, Mestyán was a member of the Hungarian A-Pool World Championship team in 2016. René Léránt and Gellért Hruby are two young players who had breakout seasons last year. Léránt made his national team debut last year, and can also be used as a forward. Rounding out the back end is the grizzled veteran Tamás Lencsés and Dávid Szabó will be playing his rookie season.
Up front Dunaújváros brought in four strong imports. Artem Iossafov and Jaarko Turtiainen played in the Liiga. Oula Uski has been a very productive forward wherever he played throughout his career. Jonas Westerling is veteran forward that should be able to help the team in all areas on the ice. Zsolt Azari will be the team captain and will be expected to continue the point per match average that the Dunaújváros fans have come to know from him. Márk Máté Nagy had a career year, it would be great help for the team if he could continue where he left off last season. Gergely Tóth has returned to his hometown, he is a young player that has tremendous upside and could have a breakout season this year. Martin Saluga is a veteran player that can play on the first line or the third line if needed. Péter Németh is a player who is very valuable on the third and fourth lines. Bence Makovics and Olivér Pinczés are two young forwards who should get playing time this season.
Players added: Máté Garbacz (Vasas, EBYSL), Bendegúz Pinczés, Dávid Szabó (Fehérvár, EBYSL), Henrich Jabornik, Peter Sevela (Ferencváros), Miika Franssila, Jonas Westerling (Sheffield, EIHL), Artem Iossafov (Asplöven, Div1), Oliver Pinczés (Fehérvár, EBJL), Martin Saluga (Brasov), Gergely Tóth (MAC), Jaako Turtiainen (HPK, Liiga), Oula Uski (Jokipojat, Mestis)
Players who left: Dávid Duschek (DVTK), Villem-Henrik Koitmaa (Vasas), Attila Orbán (HK Budapest), Danil Skripets (Donbass Donetsk, UKR), Tihamér Becze (Csíkszereda), Norbert Hári, Jakub Izacky, Dominik Novotny, Arnold Silló (DEAC), Daniel Nageler (Zell am See, AplsHL), Mátyás Odnoga (MAC), Lukas Vrana (Bönigen,SwissDiv2), Gergely Borbas, Adrián Hüffner, Bence Marcell Mátyásy, Alex Scola, Lőrinc Tanka, Hugo Turcotte, Viktor Török (unknown)
