Successful investments inspire the ZSC Lions

The willingness to invest in Swiss ice hockey is unbroken, not even a pandemic could stop it. Managers take money out of the pockets of their board members or patrons in order to achieve prestige successes on the transfer market – if only to secure their own jobs.

There are contracts where it is clear from the moment they are signed that they are problematic. Striker Benjamin Baumgartner is such a case; he moved from Davos to Lausanne in 2021, earned 450,000 francs there in the first year and will receive 50,000 more next season.

Baumgartner, 22, produced just 15 scorers this season, meanwhile, was the 13th forward; his contract tops a list of spectacularly poor value deals. Players like Yannick Herren (at Gottéron with a salary of half a million francs, last passed on to Lugano), Gilles Senn (only substitute goalie in Davos), Calle Andersson and Vincent Praplan (both working for the failed SC Bern) are also on it.

Denis Malgin had to take a detour via Lausanne

In any case, it is a question of definition as to whether the expenses are worthwhile. Whether that’s only the case when the ultimate goal is achieved: the championship title. But actually the calculation is simple: In a team, the most expensive players must be the best.

This is currently the case with the ZSC Lions. That is perhaps the main reason why Zurich are only two wins away from their tenth championship title in the club’s history. The strikers Sven Andrighetto, Denis Malgin and Denis Hollenstein form what is possibly the most expensive offensive line that Swiss ice hockey has ever seen. And she is the most productive in the play-off so far: Andrighetto is the best scorer in the league with 15 scorer points, Malgin (14) and Hollenstein (8) are also among the top ten.

They were all prestige transfers from ZSC, which flexed its muscles in the transfer market and stretched itself financially. Hollenstein were lured away from Zurich’s canton rival Kloten in 2018, Andrighetto returned from an unsatisfactory adventure in Russia in 2020, and Malgin only signed in Zurich shortly before the start of the current season.

Malgin, 25, is something of a king transfer. He took ZSC to a new level – and reduced the team’s dependence on Andrighetto. Malgin already played with the juniors at ZSC before moving to North America in 2016 and making the leap to the NHL. In 2020, the Toronto Maple Leafs no longer found him a use, after which he returned to Switzerland on loan.

However, Malgin first joined Lausanne, the club managed by Petr Svoboda. Svoboda is the man who was Malgin’s agent in North America. The move to Vaud came about mainly because there was still no place for Malgin in Zurich. At the time, it was unclear for a long time when the NHL season would begin, and sports director Sven Leuenberger considered the risk of taking on a third striker alongside Marco Rossi (today Minnesota Wild) and Pius Suter (Detroit Red Wings), who was only temporarily available Available.

Leuenberger says: “Communication was open and honest. We stayed in lively exchange and gave him a clear signal that we would like to sign him for 2021. » Although the transfer became a fact, it developed into a test of patience. Because it wasn’t clear for a long time whether Malgin would even have another chance in the NHL. The artist has already played 192 games in this league, and it cannot be ruled out that he will be able to expand his portfolio there at some point.

ZSC coach Rikard Grönborg says: “He’s definitely good enough to play in the NHL. He has everything. The pace, the technique, the game intelligence. It’s just about being in the right place at the right time. I’ve had the privilege of coaching world-class players in my career. He’s in that category.”

Malgin’s contract at ZSC runs until 2025, but that doesn’t protect the club from a departure. Leuenberger says: «Of course we hope that he stays. The fun factor should not be underestimated. It’s probably more fulfilling to get 20 minutes a game here with a very important role than to be bogged down with 7 minutes of ice time somewhere.”

A powerful mix: here the hyper-ambitious Andrighetto, there the stoic Hollenstein, there the sensitive artist Malgin

Malgin, currently the best and most creative player in the league, is enjoying the game; it is part of his charm, his irresistibility. He harmonizes splendidly with line colleagues Andrighetto and Hollenstein – especially considering the fact that Grönborg only united them in the quarter-final series against Biel, in the hour of need when ZSC was about to be eliminated early.

Grönborg says: «We needed an offensive line that could carry us. So we tried that. And it worked quickly. They complement each other well. Malgin with his speed, Andrighetto with his class and Hollenstein with his shooting power. It helps that all three have a lot of quality.” Hollenstein says: “We found each other quickly and know exactly where the other one stands.”

Perhaps it is the contrasting personalities that make this mix so powerful: here the hyper-ambitious Andrighetto, there the stoic Hollenstein, there the sensitive artist Malgin. Andrighetto says: «We get along very well on and off the ice. And it wasn’t bad that we had the knife to our necks against Biel. That brought us even closer together.”

The first block also made the difference in the first two games of the final series against Zug. When ZSC converted a 0:2 into a 3:2 in the first comparison, Andrighetto was at the origin of the turnaround with two assists. And in the hard-fought 2-1 win on Wednesday in the Hallenstadion, the goalscorers were Malgin and Andrighetto.

The Zurich dream factory fuels the imagination of the competition

To put it bluntly: the most expensive professionals at ZSC have so far been better and more productive than those at EVZ, where Grégory Hofmann hasn’t really developed yet and the goalie Leonardo Genoni doesn’t seem as invincible as before. The investments in Hofmann and Genoni, the most expensive Zug professionals in the club’s history, have already paid off for EVZ with the 2021 title, the first in 23 years – regardless of the outcome of this final series.

In Zurich, they hope that the same can be said about Malgin and Andrighetto in a few days. And the rest of the league is hoping the next wickedly expensive transfer temptation will yield a return in the form of a title in 2023. The Zurich dream factory around Malgin and Andrighetto also fuels the imagination of the competition.