Last season the Vienna Capitals were less than a minute away from making the playoffs in their first season in the ERSTE Liga. For the second season they plan to be surprise team in the league.
The Vienna Capitals decided to enter the ERSTE Liga last season so that the younger players have a level between the U20 and the EBEL. Last season they realized that the level of hockey was a bit higher than what would be enough to have just young players on the roster. This year they went out and picked up some quality imports.
The Capitals made a coaching change in the offseason, Santeri Heiskanen will be in charge of the team, he joins the Austrian club from the Mestis where he was a head coach. Assisting Heiskanen will be Johan Sjoquist who joins from Sweden.
The two goalies that played the majority of the games last season, Max Zimmermann who dressed for the Austrian national team and Matthias Tschrepitsch are back for this season. Both young netminders will also be in competition to be the backup for the EBEL squad as well. Any of the three young goalies on the roster, Botond Maros, Matthias Lichtenecker and Sebastian Wraneschitz will also get games this year.
On defense the Capitals brought in reinforcements with the new imports they signed. David Satmark is only 21 but played in the SHL and spent the past two seasons in Denmark. Santeri Saari is not much older, the former NHL draft pick played in the Liiga and KHL. Adding depth and experience to the roster are a number of players coming up from the U20 team, Simon Wolf played a hand full of games in the EBEL and Philipp Pelz spent most of the season in the ERSTE Liga. The Capitals will need a few players to pick up the level of hockey in the ERSTE Liga if the team does not want to only rely on the four players mentioned above.
Vienna has the luxury of returning their top four leading scorers among the forwards, and they are all a year older and have an extra year of experience under their belts. This should help them in the long run. Richard Schlögl, Alexander Maxa Fabian Ranftl and Benjamin Nissner should all have big years this coming season. Timo Hiltunen was a solid point scorer in Finland last year and Nikita Reyn has EBEL experience, these two imports will be expected to carry the point scoring for the team. Patrik Kittinger is also a welcome addition to the team as he was a productive forward in the AlpsHL for Salzburg last season. The forward unit is young just like the rest of the team however they have potential and should be much stronger as the season goes on as the players gain valuable experience.
Players added: Adam Logozzo (Marseille, FRA3), Espoo (Mestis), David Satmark (Hvidovre, DEN), Timo Hiltunen (Jokipojat, Mestis), Patrik Kittinger (Salzburg, AlpsHL), Nikita Reyn (Karhu, FIN3)
Players who left: Dusan Sidor (Anglet, FRA2), Michal Kruckovyc (Znojmo, EBEL), Nick Kuqali (Fort Wayne, ECHL), Patrick Boltere (Kitzbüheler, AlpsHL), Sebastian Habernig (WEV Lions, AUT3), Curtis Loik (Feldkirch, AlpsHL), Dominik Schönwetter (Königsbrunn, GER4), Kevin Szabad (MAC), Dominic Thalhammer (KAC, AlpsHL), Marc Janisch, Gert Karitnig, Johannes Leitner, Gernot Wegerer, Eric Ylitalo (unknown)