Euro-Integration: Were some teams against it?

[Yozhik v tumane]

A discussion in another thread got me thinking about which teams were paving the way for Europeans during the 80s and, also, which teams acted against the trend.

I thought that there are a couple of ways of looking at this: as a percentage of players who dressed for the team throughout the decade, and by looking at the most prominently featured European on any team. I’ve made a definitely flawed count of the percentage of North Americans of the total of skaters with at least one GP for each NHL franchise between the 1979-80 and 1989-90 seasons: I think I counted Langway as a North American, but I don’t know if I adjusted for Boldirev or Bob Nystrom’s nationalities, for instance. I did, however, double check all the Blackhawks born outside of North America because it was a very easy thing to do.

So please take the following numbers with a grain of salt. I’ve listed 21 teams by the percentage of North American players dressed between 1979-80 and 1989-90, and added their European GP and points leaders for some extra context.

Team total players, total North Americans: % of total
Euro GP leader (team rank across span)
Euro Points leader (team rank across span)

Chicago 101, 100: 99%
J Torkki 4 GP (t-89th)
J Torkki 4 1-0-1 (t-87th)

St. Louis 134, 130: 97%
J Pettersson 365 GP (8th)
J Pettersson 365 161-171-332 (5th)

Hartford 166, 161: 97%
U Samuelsson 401 GP (6th)
R Siltanen 277 40-118-158 (14th)

Pittsburgh 154, 149: 96,8%
V Siren 199 GP (t-28th)
V Siren 199 11-45-56 (t-45th)

Toronto 153, 147: 96,1%
Börje Salming 651 GP (1st)
Börje Salming 651 70-338-408 (2nd)

Boston 116, 111 NA: 95,7%
M Thelvén 207 GP (28th)
M Thelvén 207 20-80-100 (27th)

Montréal 102, 97 NA: 95,1%
M Näslund 617 (4th)
M Näslund 617 243-369-612 (1st)

Los Angeles 158, 149: 94,3%
A Håkansson 191 GP (23rd)
A Håkansson 191 31-30-61 (41st)

Detroit 151, 142 NA: 94%
P Klima 293 GP (12th)
P Klima 293 129–93-222 (5th)

Philadelphia 117, 109: 93,2%
I Sinisalo 526 GP (4th)
I Sinisalo 526 199-210-409 (4th)

Buffalo 120, 111: 92,5%
C Ruuttu 291 GP (17th)
C Ruuttu 291 81-176-256 (10th)

Atlanta/Calgary 124, 114: 91,9%
H Loob 450 GP (7th)
K Nilsson 425 229-333-562 (1st)

Winnipeg 133, 122: 91,7%
T Steen 667 GP (3rd)
T Steen 667 186-388-574 (2nd)

Québec 156, 142: 91%
P Stastny 737 GP (2nd)
P Stastny 737 380-668-1048 (1st)

Washington 142, 129: 90,8%
B-Å Gustafsson 629 GP (2nd)
B-Å Gustafsson 629 195-359-554 (2nd)

NY Islanders 97, 88: 90,7%
T Jonsson 532 GP (7th)
T Jonsson 532 84-249-333 (8th)

Minnesota 161, 145: 90%
F Musil 263 GP (18th)
K Nilsson 105 29-77-106 (23rd)

NY Rangers 161, 144: 89,4%
J Erixon, 412 GP (6th)
T Sandström, 407 173-207-380 (2nd)

Vancouver 129, 115: 89,1%
T Gradin 537 GP (3rd)
T Gradin 537 177-322-499 (2nd)

Colorado/New Jersey 154, 136: 88,3%
P Sundström 217 GP (21st)
P Sundström 217 70-126-196 (10th)

Edmonton 141, 123: 87,2%
J Kurri 754 GP (t-3rd)
J Kurri 764 474-569-1043 (2nd)

So here are some thoughts I have on this:

• Some teams were like Montreal and featured very few, but at least some European of prominence. Others were more like Boston and dressed a bunch who never made much of a splash. But then there’s Chicago. Four players over the time span were not born in Canada or the US: one was 17 games of Stan Mikita, two were Italian born Canadians, and then there’s Jari Torkki playing four games in 1988-89. Is there a story behind Chicago in particular not giving Europeans a chance?
• On the other end of the spectrum, there’s the Oilers. Interestingly, I thought, the most successful teams of the decade seem ahead of the curve in terms of employing European skaters. Most notably, of course, the Islanders and Oilers, but even the 1986 Canadiens stand out with having a Swede lead them in scoring.
• Out of the O6 teams, the Rangers stand out as being particularly welcoming of Europeans: all the other five teams were found in the bottom-half of Euro integration.

I was also inspired by @The Panther to look at the process of integration by means of a headcount of European players in the Cup Finals over the years, here’s what I found:

1977 1 (Hagman, 1 GP Bruins: 1st ever)
1978 0
1979 2 (both Rangers)
1980 1 (Persson, Islanders)
1981 2 (one each)
1982 9
1983 5
1984 7
1985 8
1986 3
1987 8
1988 3
1989 4
1990 4 (all Oilers)
1991 4
1992 7
1993 3 (all Kings)
1994 7
1995 9
1996 9
1997 12
1998 13
1999 8
2000 10
2001 9
2002 16
2003 12
2004 12
2006 10
2007 7
2008 15
2009 17
2010 8
2011 10
2012 11
2013 15
2014 8
2015 14
2016 10
2017 13
2018 15
2019 11
2020 18
2021 12

Average number of Europeans per cup final per decade:
1970s: 0,3
1980s: 5
1990s: 7,6
2000s: 10,8
2010s: 11,5
2020s: 15

Additional notes:

• In 1979-80, ten teams employed all 22 NHL skaters trained in Sweden, Finland and Czechoslovakia.
• The 1982 Cup finals (NYI v. VAN) featured eight Swedish skaters: half the NHL total.
• The 1990 Bruins and the 1993 Canadiens are the only finalists since 1980 without a European on their rosters; Canadiens the last champion.

So then! What do you make of this?
What do you remember about the process of integrating Europeans into the NHL? Why were the Blackhawks so extremely reluctant?

And some other teams also look like they might have failed to get with the programme in time. The Bruins doesn’t seem to have had much luck catching Euro talent until Chara, arguably, but at least before Stümpel, Axelsson and Samsonov in the late 90s. Why is that?

Edit: The numbers have been adjusted on 2021-11-27 not to count Canadian and American-trained players as Europeans.

Click to read more...

 

[hacksaw7]

Don't mean to spread rumors/innuendo but wasn't there a general feel that Bobby Clarke in his days as GM/exec of the Flyers was against it? In terms of bringing in maybe Russians and Eastern Europeans. Some teams were definitely slower than others while other franchises led the way (Devils + Lou Lamoriello) Calgary

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

Don't mean to spread rumors/innuendo but wasn't there a general feel that Bobby Clarke in his days as GM/exec of the Flyers was against it? In terms of bringing in maybe Russians and Eastern Europeans. Some teams were definitely slower than others while other franchises led the way (Devils + Lou Lamoriello) Calgary

Clarke being anti-Russian specifically, I wouldn’t wager against. What ex-Soviets did he keep around, Zelepukin and Zubrus maybe?

 

[hacksaw7]

Clarke being anti-Russian specifically, I wouldn’t wager against. What ex-Soviets did he keep around, Zelepukin and Zubrus maybe?

There was another Russian player they had in the late 90s (decent prospect too) who I recall tragically perished in a boating accident

 

[hacksaw7]

They also had Lomakin and Yushkevich. But neither lasted long. Yushkevich was such a good tough defenseman though...the kind of guy you want to hold on to

 

[hacksaw7]

Ivan Provorov has actually played more games as a Flyer than any other Russian. And it's under 400. #2 is Yushkevich

 

[Sanf]

That is nice work. Obviously there are lot of factors.

For example Blackhawks.

Thay originally drafted Thomas Gradin (1976), but they traded him to Canucks when the feeling seemed to be that he would not sign to Chicago and there was risk losing him to WHA and Jets. Canucks were obviously going heavy on Europeans signing Zetterström, Lindgren and Eriksson too.

Hasek and Frantisek Kucera were drafted when there was no chance to them to go.

Jonas Heed was in 1985 camp and they offered him possibility to stay, but he was committed to return to Sweden.

Timo Lehkonen was in 1986 camp, but decided to go back Finland feeling bit homesick.

Ulf Sandström (1987 draft) they tried to get to try out with the team. Stefan Elvenes they tried around mid 90´s. Probably forgot some.

Certainly some teams managed to make "euro friendly" enviroment by signing several Euros at the same time. Compensation that had to be paid to associations was relatively much bigger back then (compared the money that was moving in NHL overall).

Some like Sabres went heavy for Euros in early 80´s. With help from Juuso Wahlsten they signed 6 Finns (Virta, Paavola, Suikkanen, Suoraniemi, Leime and Eivola). Besides Hannu Virtas better than decent stint nothing else came out from it.

Sure there could have been organization that maybe scoffed at Euros. But probably bit of bad luck and sometimes extremely bad or nonexistent scouting was to blame.

 

[Sanf]

As a complete OT I got interest who were the Blackhawks players born in Italy. Apparently Victor Posa is listed. I decided to look his Wikipedia page and the first sentence in his quite short bio is "Victor Posa was not born in Bari, Italy".

Victor Posa - Wikipedia

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

That is nice work. Obviously there are lot of factors.

For example Blackhawks.

Thay originally drafted Thomas Gradin (1976), but they traded him to Canucks when the feeling seemed to be that he would not sign to Chicago and there was risk losing him to WHA and Jets. Canucks were obviously going heavy on Europeans signing Zetterström, Lindgren and Eriksson too.

Hasek and Frantisek Kucera were drafted when there was no chance to them to go.

Jonas Heed was in 1985 camp and they offered him possibility to stay, but he was committed to return to Sweden.

Timo Lehkonen was in 1986 camp, but decided to go back Finland feeling bit homesick.

Ulf Sandström (1987 draft) they tried to get to try out with the team. Stefan Elvenes they tried around mid 90´s. Probably forgot some.

Certainly some teams managed to make "euro friendly" enviroment by signing several Euros at the same time. Compensation that had to be paid to associations was relatively much bigger back then (compared the money that was moving in NHL overall).

Some like Sabres went heavy for Euros in early 80´s. With help from Juuso Wahlsten they signed 6 Finns (Virta, Paavola, Suikkanen, Suoraniemi, Leime and Eivola). Besides Hannu Virtas better than decent stint nothing else came out from it.

Sure there could have been organization that maybe scoffed at Euros. But probably bit of bad luck and sometimes extremely bad or nonexistent scouting was to blame.

Thank you for this context, it would be interesting also having a deeper look at the draft histories of teams. For sure some teams seem to have gone out of their ways to accommodate several Europeans at a time and making them feel welcome, which besides the prospects of making good money also must have weighed in on players’ decisions. I don’t think any GM would have passed on a European star a few years into the 80s when it was evident some teams were striking gold, but I can see that not every team would have it as in their best interest to make room for three other guys in addition to their hit or miss Euro prospect.

The sample sizes varied widely between teams, and that might provide some hints as to how teams were run too. A team like the Whalers had more of a revolving door with 166 different skaters dressed for them in eleven seasons, whereas the Blackhawks’ 101 skaters was the second least to the 97 the Islanders dressed. This is wild guessing, but both teams might have had a strategy of continuity with their roster constructs, which might have made it more difficult for the Blackhawks to attract Euro talent as the “necessity” to bring a swath at the same time would conflict with some idea they had.

How much they focused on prospect development within their organizations might also have influenced decisions.
Still, it’s interesting that some teams had such success with Euro players, when others couldn’t convince a guy to stay for two weeks.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

As a complete OT I got interest who were the Blackhawks players born in Italy. Apparently Victor Posa is listed. I decided to look his Wikipedia page and the first sentence in his quite short bio is "Victor Posa was not born in Bari, Italy".

Victor Posa - Wikipedia

Hahaha, that’s great. Probably the man himself who edited it

 

[DeysArena]

Who wants a bunch of commie Russians and chicken Swedes? What ya need is some good Canadian boys from Kingston.

 

[Bear of Bad News]

There was another Russian player they had in the late 90s (decent prospect too) who I recall tragically perished in a boating accident

Dmitri Tertysyny:
Dmitri Tertyshny - Wikipedia

 

[kaiser matias]

Hahaha, that’s great. Probably the man himself who edited it

It actually looks like his son (a couple updates from 2017 about Benito, the son, playing in the USHL and turning 19, then some more in 2019). Though interestingly enough it looks like I was the one who changed the place of birth to Italy back in 2017 (likely because HockeyDB et al list that as his birth place).

 

[ContrarianGoaltender]

Chicago did try to add at least a few Europeans to their lineup at times over that decade, but it's also notable that they had a limited number of Europeans in their lineup throughout the 1990s as well. By my count, the first season the Black Hawks ever had more than two Europeans with 40 or more games played was 1999-00, which is pretty shockingly late. I honestly find it very difficult to look at their record and not conclude that longtime GM Bob Pulford must have had a pretty strong conscious or unconscious bias in favour of North American players.

From 1979-80 through the 2003-04 season, Chicago had 23 different Europeans who had at least one season where they played 25 or more GP with the franchise. Of those, 7 were drafted by the team and 16 were acquired from other teams.

Here's the breakdown of the trade/free agency acquisitions by GM (start/end dates sourced from Wikipedia):

Bob Pulford: July 6, 1977 - June 5, 1990: 0
Mike Keenan: June 5, 1990 - Nov 6, 1992: 1
Bob Pulford: Nov 6, 1992 - July 3, 1997: 4
Bob Murray: July 3, 1997 - Dec 2, 1999: 4
Bob Pulford (interim): Dec 2, 1999 - Sep 22, 2000: 1
Mike Smith: Sep 22, 2000 - Oct 24, 2003: 6

That's 5 in ~19 years for Pulford compared to 11 in ~7 years for the other guys combined.

Also, of the 4 Europeans acquired by Pulford in his second GM stint, 3 of them were acquired in the Roenick and Belfour trades, where Chicago was basically forced to sell off a star player to the highest bidder. That means that there were only two Europeans that Pulford specifically targeted and acquired that met my GP threshold in Chicago. They were Igor Ulanov, who he only had for less than a season before immediately trading him away for a goon (Enrico Ciccone), and Valeri Zelepukin, who was signed as a free agent during Pulford's interim GM stint and scored 7 points in 36 games in the final season of his NHL career.

Now let's look at the NHL draft, where things might get even worse:

Europeans drafted by Chicago, 1979-2003:

Period	GM(s)	Total picks	Top 60 picks	25+ GP yr w/CHI
1979-1989	Pulford	13	0	1
1990-1992	Keenan	5	3	2
1993-1997	Pulford	9	1	1
1998-2003	Murray/Smith	30	7	3

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

The only two successful European draft picks by Pulford from 1979-1997 by my definition of having played at least 25 games for Chicago in a single season were Frantisek Kucera, a useful bottom-pairing defenceman who had 40+ GP in Chicago every year from 1991-1994 but only dressed for 6 of 34 playoff games, and Dmitri Nabokov, who just qualifies by virtue of having played 25 games right on the nose in 1997-98 in his only season as a Hawk.

To be fair, though, I guess Pulford should probably get some points for drafting Dominik Hasek in 1983. Also, he was the interim GM when Chicago took back-to-back Europeans at #10 and #11 in 2000, and he was again in charge for the 2004 entry draft where the Hawks took 4 Europeans, including one at #54.

So if we're going to maximally charitable to Pulford, maybe the team didn't invest a lot of resources in scouting European players earlier in his tenure, and he at least seemed to have figured out their value by the end of his career. But overall, his almost complete failure to add any impact Europeans whatsoever in '80s and '90s unless his hand was completely forced just doesn't look good at all when contrasted against the team's record of talent acquisition under Keenan, Murray and Smith.

 

[The Panther]

Interesting topic.

One of the reasons I go off the deep-end a bit when the geniuses on the main-board go on about "No-Europeans-until-the-90s!" is because I started watching the NHL, as a little kid, in the 1985 finals and then from the 1986-87 season regularly, and that as an Oilers' fan.

As noted, there were 8 Europeans in the 1985 Final, and certainly from 1986-87 there were plenty of Europeans in the NHL. The Oilers in the '87 playoffs had Kurri, Ruotsalainen, Tikkanen (Finns), Nilsson (Swede), and occasionally Pouzar (Czech). I'd often watch Toronto and see Frycer, the Ihnacaks (two of them), and Salming. Montreal's top guy was Mats Naslund, and Detroit had Klima, though he was on a bit of an island. Vancouver had Skriko, Gradin, and Sundstrom. And especially by 1989 or so there were Europeans everywhere. Heck, by October 1989 there were Soviets!

It was interesting to see that the Rangers really explored their European options. In the late-70s, they'd brought in Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg. Later, they developed Ruotsalainen, and Sandstrom was their top-goal scorer by 1986-87.

I a kind of shocked that there were no European players on the 1993 Canadiens. I mean, it's correct if I think about it, but that seems almost anachronistic by then.

But surely Vancouver wins the overall prize for the greatest impact on the franchise by European players, not only in the 80s but overall? The franchise's top-16 scorers include:
1. H. Sedin
2. D. Sedin
5. Naslund
6. Gradin
9. Bure
15. Skriko
16. Sundstrom

Even more remarkable, their top-14 single-season scoring leaders include:
1. H. Sedin 2010
2. Bure 1993
3. Mogilny 1996
4. Bure 1994
5. Naslund 2003
6. D. Sedin 2011
8. H. Sedin 2011
9. Sundstrom 1984
10. Bure 1998
11. Naslund 2002
13. Gradin 1982
14. Gradin 1983

So, 44% of their top-16 franchise scorers are Europeans, and of their top-14 single-season scoring leaders, 86% are Europeans!

 

[reckoning]

When Jim Gregory signed Borje Salming and Inge Hammarstrom for Toronto, the only reason he was able to do so was because Harold Ballard was in prison at the time. Had he been around, he likely would've vetoed the moves. When he resumed his duties as Leafs owner, he made the infamous comments about how Hammarstrom was such a soft player that he could play with eggs in his pocket and not break any of them.

As it turned out, Ballard grew to love Salming and didn't feud with him publicly like he did with other Leaf stars. He even became open to bringing in several Czech players in the early 80s. But it's interesting to think how bad the team would've been had they not brought Salming over.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

But surely Vancouver wins the overall prize for the greatest impact on the franchise by European players, not only in the 80s but overall? The franchise's top-16 scorers include:
1. H. Sedin
2. D. Sedin
5. Naslund
6. Gradin
9. Bure
15. Skriko
16. Sundstrom

They certainly have a strong case, my counter however would be the top 50 scorers for the Red Wings since 1967-68:

2 Lidstrom
3 Zetterberg
4 Fedorov
5 Datsyuk
9 Holmstrom
12 Kronwall
14 Kozlov
15 Larionov
16 Franzen
24 Nyquist
25 Filppula
34 Nedomansky
40 Klima
41 Tatar
44 Hudler

That’s a third of their top 50, 44% of their top 25, 50% of their top 10 and 80% of their top 5 being comprised of Europeans!

But Vancouver also has a case, as I said, but there’s even more to that! I went and checked your numbers because I was sure Naslund retired with the most points in team history, and indeed! Euros are 1-2-3 for the Nucks, and I suspect something happened when you listed them because some ranks were a little bit off. Here are the Euro players in the Canucks top 50 per NHL.com:

1 H Sedin
2 D Sedin
3 Naslund
6 Gradin
7 Bure
10 Edler
16 Skriko
18 Patrik Sundstrom
20 Ohlund
22 Lumme
24 Mogilny
31 Salo
32 Hansen

Again 44% of the top 25, then 60% of their top 10, and 100% of the top 3! Depending on your measuring stick, ymmv on where Europeans made the bigger impact.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

When Jim Gregory signed Borje Salming and Inge Hammarstrom for Toronto, the only reason he was able to do so was because Harold Ballard was in prison at the time. Had he been around, he likely would've vetoed the moves. When he resumed his duties as Leafs owner, he made the infamous comments about how Hammarstrom was such a soft player that he could play with eggs in his pocket and not break any of them.

As it turned out, Ballard grew to love Salming and didn't feud with him publicly like he did with other Leaf stars. He even became open to bringing in several Czech players in the early 80s. But it's interesting to think how bad the team would've been had they not brought Salming over.

Oh for sure, Ballard’s the first name that comes to my mind when I think about Euro bashers, but I was also aware that he grew to love Salming (and those feelings were mutual, may I add).

I also wonder how the league would have continued to develop without Salming’s footprint. I’m sure someone else would have become the first European all star and proved that all aren’t soft, but who and when is difficult to answer without him in the timeline.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Don't mean to spread rumors/innuendo but wasn't there a general feel that Bobby Clarke in his days as GM/exec of the Flyers was against it? In terms of bringing in maybe Russians and Eastern Europeans. Some teams were definitely slower than others while other franchises led the way (Devils + Lou Lamoriello) Calgary

i feel like the late 80s flyers were pretty well represented by their two high impact euros, sinisalo and eklund, plus thomas eriksson for a bit and eventually kjell samuelsson at the end of the decade

edit: and pelle lindbergh, duh

 

[Pominville Knows]

They certainly have a strong case, my counter however would be the top 50 scorers for the Red Wings since 1967-68:

2 Lidstrom
3 Zetterberg
4 Fedorov
5 Datsyuk
9 Holmstrom
12 Kronwall
14 Kozlov
15 Larionov
16 Franzen
24 Nyquist
25 Filppula
34 Nedomansky
40 Klima
41 Tatar
44 Hudler

That’s a third of their top 50, 44% of their top 25, 50% of their top 10 and 80% of their top 5 being comprised of Europeans!

But Vancouver also has a case, as I said, but there’s even more to that! I went and checked your numbers because I was sure Naslund retired with the most points in team history, and indeed! Euros are 1-2-3 for the Nucks, and I suspect something happened when you listed them because some ranks were a little bit off. Here are the Euro players in the Canucks top 50 per NHL.com:

1 H Sedin
2 D Sedin
3 Naslund
6 Gradin
7 Bure
10 Edler
16 Skriko
18 Patrik Sundstrom
20 Ohlund
22 Lumme
24 Mogilny
31 Salo
32 Hansen

Again 44% of the top 25, then 60% of their top 10, and 100% of the top 3! Depending on your measuring stick, ymmv on where Europeans made the bigger impact.

The bigger impact is most probably in Detroit since they are a much older organisation and therefore has a much deeper top-50 in scoring all-time.
Obviously more sucessful as well.

 

[alko]

Source

Peter Ihnacak and Miroslav Frycer were Czech defectors who had decent runs with the Leafs. It was Peter’s younger brother Miroslav, however, that changed Leaf owner Harold Ballard’s tune. When the Leafs went to great trouble to help Miroslav Ihnacak defect in 1986, Ballard was among those who couldn’t be more pleased to have helped him escape from a Communist country.
When Miroslav Ihnacak soon balked at the original NHL contract that the Leafs felt he had agreed to, Ballard was livid. From that point on, the edict was out by Ballard that no players from countries like Russia and Czechoslovakia would be welcome to play for his Toronto Maple Leafs.

Is this correct?

 

[Sanf]

Interesting topic.

One of the reasons I go off the deep-end a bit when the geniuses on the main-board go on about "No-Europeans-until-the-90s!" is because I started watching the NHL, as a little kid, in the 1985 finals and then from the 1986-87 season regularly, and that as an Oilers' fan.

As noted, there were 8 Europeans in the 1985 Final, and certainly from 1986-87 there were plenty of Europeans in the NHL. The Oilers in the '87 playoffs had Kurri, Ruotsalainen, Tikkanen (Finns), Nilsson (Swede), and occasionally Pouzar (Czech). I'd often watch Toronto and see Frycer, the Ihnacaks (two of them), and Salming. Montreal's top guy was Mats Naslund, and Detroit had Klima, though he was on a bit of an island. Vancouver had Skriko, Gradin, and Sundstrom. And especially by 1989 or so there were Europeans everywhere. Heck, by October 1989 there were Soviets!

It was interesting to see that the Rangers really explored their European options. In the late-70s, they'd brought in Ulf Nilsson and Anders Hedberg. Later, they developed Ruotsalainen, and Sandstrom was their top-goal scorer by 1986-87.

I a kind of shocked that there were no European players on the 1993 Canadiens. I mean, it's correct if I think about it, but that seems almost anachronistic by then.

But surely Vancouver wins the overall prize for the greatest impact on the franchise by European players, not only in the 80s but overall? The franchise's top-16 scorers include:
1. H. Sedin
2. D. Sedin
5. Naslund
6. Gradin
9. Bure
15. Skriko
16. Sundstrom

Even more remarkable, their top-14 single-season scoring leaders include:
1. H. Sedin 2010
2. Bure 1993
3. Mogilny 1996
4. Bure 1994
5. Naslund 2003
6. D. Sedin 2011
8. H. Sedin 2011
9. Sundstrom 1984
10. Bure 1998
11. Naslund 2002
13. Gradin 1982
14. Gradin 1983

So, 44% of their top-16 franchise scorers are Europeans, and of their top-14 single-season scoring leaders, 86% are Europeans!

Yep Rangers won the bidding war from Nilsson and Hedberg. Though neither of them were drafted prior to 77-78 thing called negotiation list existed. Nilsson was on Sabres and Hedberg on Maple Leafs list so they owned their rights. And it was known that they only want to play together so until they became "free agents" they weren´t really available. Maple Leafs tried some years to get Hedberg.

Finnish invasion in Oilers didn´t start from great scouting. It started when Hannu Kamppuri (really self confident Finnish goalie) marched in Oilers practice when they were in Finland. Managed to get contract and recommended (half jokingly) Siltanen. Siltanen who did not speak English then had a clause that Kamppuri has to play in same team. That became thing that probably forced Blues to trade Siltanen back to Oilers.

Edmonton Journal 9. Jul 1979
Apparently, St. Louis Blues are having second thoughts about keeping the five-foot-eight, 180-pound defenceman after grabbing him off Oilers´roster prior to the June 13 expansion draft in Montreal.

Probably because they may have a legal hassle on their hands. It´s written in Siltanen´s contract that he must play on the same team as countryman Hannu Kamppuri. Blues don´t want any part of the Oilers third-string goalie. "The clause might be in his contract," said Blues official Dennis Ball, "But I don´t think it´s valid in the NHL."

Oilers coach Glen Sather hotly disagrees.
"It´s pretty funny that Blues like the top of the contract where it lists his salary (about 40,000 a year) and the bottom where he signed his John Henry. But, the middle is no good in their eyes," said Sather.

Kamppuri was also first one to recommend Kurri for Oilers. And then there was package deal that Hagman needs to come with Kurri (IIRC) and so on. So getting Europeans could be quite difficult and they moved as packages. Luck and coincidence played often big part.

 

[Sanf]

When Jim Gregory signed Borje Salming and Inge Hammarstrom for Toronto, the only reason he was able to do so was because Harold Ballard was in prison at the time. Had he been around, he likely would've vetoed the moves. When he resumed his duties as Leafs owner, he made the infamous comments about how Hammarstrom was such a soft player that he could play with eggs in his pocket and not break any of them.

As it turned out, Ballard grew to love Salming and didn't feud with him publicly like he did with other Leaf stars. He even became open to bringing in several Czech players in the early 80s. But it's interesting to think how bad the team would've been had they not brought Salming over.

I have seen this before, but I don´t know if the first part is correct? I haven´t seen Ballard being against signing Europeans. Though later Hammaström comment I have seen. I believe this was again bit of package deal.

Ballard scouted himself for four Finnish players who he invited for camp and negotiatied with Curt Larsson (goalie who later played in Jets) for job in Maple Leafs.

The Lowell Sun 22 Sep. 1972
The theree Finnsih players who are on their way to the Maple Leaf training camp in Toronto represent the start of something big and new in major league hockey. That´s the conclusion Harold Ballard, president of Toronto´s National Hockey League club, has arrived at following a week of studying the sport at close range in Europe.

"There´s all kinds of excellent talent here and we have to begin getting some of it," said Ballard, who flew to Helsinki and arranged for the three athletes to audition with Leafs, starting as soon as they can get to the Gardens, in Europe.

"THE RESULTS OF the games between our best players on Team Canada and the Russians and Swedes have convinced a lot of us that a good part of our future lies in Europe." ....

..."Our search for a goalie has shown us a very important face about North American hockey the supply of talent is insufficient and there´s a rich supply in Europe." Ballard expects none of the four Europeans will be available for the upcoming season.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

I have seen this before, but I don´t know if the first part is correct? I haven´t seen Ballard being against signing Europeans. Though later Hammaström comment I have seen. I believe this was again bit of package deal.

I’ve read the story several times that they wouldn’t have been able to sign Hammarstrom and Salming had Ballard not been in jail, but it’s interesting that he himself was scouting Finnish players in 1972 according to the article you quoted.

Weird though, wouldn’t he have been serving his prison sentence in September 1972? He was paroled in October 1973, and apparently he only served a year so that might have been right before it.

I don’t know what to make of some of these things you hear about him. Perhaps he privately resented Europeans, he seems to have shapeshifted at times. He went on a PR campaign uncharacteristic of him while the Summit Series were being planned, allowing his players to participate, granting use of the Maple Leaf Gardens for training and all games and promising to donate all revenues to the NHL players pension fund, but if I understand the claims off Wikipedia correctly he privately was against his players participating and broke promises by sending a bill for using the Gardens.

If I’m being cynical when reading his statements about the future being in Europe, at that time, it might be another public relations stunt before going to jail.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

Source

Peter Ihnacak and Miroslav Frycer were Czech defectors who had decent runs with the Leafs. It was Peter’s younger brother Miroslav, however, that changed Leaf owner Harold Ballard’s tune. When the Leafs went to great trouble to help Miroslav Ihnacak defect in 1986, Ballard was among those who couldn’t be more pleased to have helped him escape from a Communist country.
When Miroslav Ihnacak soon balked at the original NHL contract that the Leafs felt he had agreed to, Ballard was livid. From that point on, the edict was out by Ballard that no players from countries like Russia and Czechoslovakia would be welcome to play for his Toronto Maple Leafs.

Is this correct?

this feels like current vancouver ownership. the trap is trying to figure out some kind of reasoning behind decisions or organizational direction. you can’t predict what will happen next because you are dealing with a child.