.... pretty sure they already had passports considering they live and work in these countries which are now their homes...
These imports rarely stay in their naturalized countries after retirement, in fact a much higher percentage leave before retirement for other clubs in other countries.
But I have no problem with countries doing this because it hurts them and only them. Yes, a bit of temporary success, a surprise promotion, your ten minutes in the sun, or for a fading superpower it appears to be a chance to stay relevant. Seems wonderful.
However, naturalization, as many countries are learning, is a poison pill. To illustrate this point we can talk Korea in the Asia league. The Asia League import limit I believe is 2. On paper Anyang Halla and Gangwon High only have 1 import each. Then you factor in naturalized imports. Anyang Halla actually has 6 imports, and Gangwon High has 4. Between both clubs, only one player under 24 scored 10 points last season. Playing time is absolutely crucial for young prospects and when you naturalize imports for the national team you artificially inflate the import limit and thereby take away playing time from your prospects. Then, when your first batch of naturalized imports retire you have no one ready to take up the mantle and are forced to naturalize more players. Even if you have a KHL team, the best players you can naturalize are NHL rejects, if you aren't in the KHL the best you might get are AHL players or ECHL players and that places what is effectively a glass ceiling on how good your team can be.
That's why the new trend among Federations is anti-import naturalizing. Belarus had such a miserable time being unable to offer their brightest junior stars any KHL time in Dinamo Minsk they cut many of their naturalized imports and sent them packing to other teams in other leagues.
Viola, these patriotic athletes, now that they are gone, are no longer involved with the National Team. The Belorussian team looks terrible, probably the worst I've ever seen it, and might even be under threat from Slovenia to even stay up. But a year ago, after their U18 team was promoted to the Elite Tier for the first time in a few years, I said "the athletes you see today you will never see again." What I said had historical roots, but what I didn't anticipate was that the federation was concerned, realized they had a problem on their hands, and began to deal with it accordingly. Overcrowding is still terrible in Minsk because they must accommodate for all the returning expats, but Dmitri Ambrozheichek, Danila Karaban, and Yevgeni Lisovets have actually each gotten chances throughout the season to play big minutes and potentially build their games. Italy also left naturalizing players and they made it up, Great Britain and Japan are also heading in the same direction and Germany's roster this year will also be the first it seems to not feature any naturalized imports.
So when I see a program naturalizing players, and perhaps they get a moment in the sun like Hungary did last year or Korea did this year, I don't get worked up about it. Hype is immaterial. Rinks, coaching programs, training camps, sophisticated player agencies, the infrastructure for annual entry-level contracts, those make a real difference.
