Hungarian national team forward János Hári has signed a two year deal with German club Düsseldorfer EG in the DEL.
At the end of the 2016-17 season János Hári and Leksands were relegated from the Swedish SHL to the Allsvenskan, the Swedish second division. With his two year contract with Leksands running out at the end of this season Hári bid goodbye to the the club. There were offers from a number of different countries but by the way Hári explains it this might have been the best fit for him. “I felt real positive about Düsseldorf as soon as they started talking to me, the head coach called me and right away we had a great conversation. It looks to be a great city with a nice arena and great fans as well. I think we will have a great team this season.” Hári went on to say “it was kind of a gut feeling when I made my decision but it is for two seasons and after playing in a small town this will be a nice change of pace.”
This will be the first professional season for Hári playing outside of Scandinavia and also the first one since he spent a year of junior hockey in the QMJHL. After leaving Hungary at a young age he played for the youth clubs of Hammarby and Farjestad. Once he came back from Canada he played for MODO in the SHL and HIFK in the Liiga in Finland before spending the past two seasons in Leksands
For the upcoming season Hári will be the second Hungarian under contract with a team in the DEL has he joins István Bartalis. Much like Hári, Bartalis also spent his youth and junior seasons in Sweden and was Hári’s roomate a number of times with the national team. Hári does have a message for Bartalis for the first time the play each other. “I recommend that István keeps his head up”, of course this is all said with a smile :)
