Outside the "Big 5," what country has the best international hockey team?

[dalewood12]

I don't think I'm controversial in saying that the top five national teams in the world (in alphabetic order) are Canada, Finland, Russia, Sweden and USA.

Who is number 6?

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[amnesiac]

its pretty close..... Josi really makes it difficult


Necas-Hertl-Pasta
Palat-Zacha-Chytil/Kubalik

Hronek-Rutta
Gudas

Mrazek-Dostal

vs

Fiala-Hischier-Meier
Kurashev-Suter-Neiderreiter

Josi-Moser
Seigenthaler

Schmid

 

[Elvs]

its pretty close..... Josi really makes it difficult


Kubalik-Hertl-Pasta
Chytil/Palat-Zacha-Necas

Hronek-Rutta
Gudas

Mrazek-Dostal

vs

Fiala-Hischier-Meier
Kurashev-Eklund/Suter-Neiderreiter

Josi-Moser
Seigenthaler

Schmid

Switzerland has the clear advantage on defence, while Czechia has the clear advantage between the pipes and also up front in terms of depth, imo. Some combination of Jakub Vrana, Radek Faksa, David Kämpf, Ondrej Kase, Roman Cervenka and Matej Stransky makes for a better bottom six then what Switzerland can put on the ice, I think.

And maybe more importantly, going forward, Switzerland has only had five players drafted since 2020. In the same time span Czechia has had 32 players drafted, including three 1st round picks and four 2nd round selections.

But yeah, right now, in a best on best tournament, the odds would be pretty even.

 

[Regal]

I miss when the Czech Republic and Slovakia were legit competition to the big 5

 

[pouf pouf]

its pretty close..... Josi really makes it difficult


Necas-Hertl-Pasta
Palat-Zacha-Chytil/Kubalik

Hronek-Rutta
Gudas

Mrazek-Dostal

vs

Fiala-Hischier-Meier
Kurashev-Eklund/Suter-Neiderreiter

Josi-Moser
Seigenthaler

Schmid

Who is Eklund???

 

[amnesiac]

Who is Eklund???

William Eklund Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of William Eklund, a hockey player from Stockholm, Sweden born Oct 12 2002 who was active from 2018 to 2024.

www.hockeydb.com

 

[pouf pouf]

William Eklund Hockey Stats and Profile at hockeydb.com

Statistics of William Eklund, a hockey player from Stockholm, Sweden born Oct 12 2002 who was active from 2018 to 2024.

www.hockeydb.com

Glad to learn that Stockholm is now part of Switzerland.
Eklund is swedish, not swiss citizen.
Not the same country…

 

[amnesiac]

Glad to learn that Stockholm is now part of Switzerland.
Eklund is swedish, not swiss citizen.
Not the same country…

Well shit…. My bad.

I would’ve said April fools, but we’re not allowed

 

[pouf pouf]

Well shit…. My bad.

I would’ve said April fools, but we’re not allowed

Easier for me to know, to be honest.
I would have heard it if he was

 

[Siludin]

The Czechs were in a rough spot for about a decade but they really turned it around recently.

 

[NyQuil]

Sweden is probably the best team outside the Big 5.

@Eye of Ra

 

[Eye of Ra]

The Czechs were in a rough spot for about a decade but they really turned it around recently.

They have just 4 Ds in NHL

Elite Prospects - NHL Stats 2023-2024

2023-2024 regular season player stats for NHL, including top goal scorers, most games played, PPG leaders and more.

www.eliteprospects.com

 

[biturbo19]

It's awfully close between Switzerland and Czechia. Switzerland has the best Center and the best Defenceman by a significant margin. Swiss have the better defence group overall, but they're both really thin. Czechia has the best Winger and a little bit of an edge in net. Neither has a huge overwhelming wealth of NHL depth to really make a huge difference here.


I think it's interesting looking at what the teams would look like if you recombined Czechia and Slovakia, and joined Switzerland with Germany. You'd have two, much more impressive, much more competitive teams. That'd move them a lot closer to the Big-5.

 

[BB79]

The Czechs have my vote

 

[Lambo]

Czechia AINEC! A better question would be "Best International Team outside Big 5 and Czechia! Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland, Denmark?

 

[garbageteam]

I miss when the Czech Republic and Slovakia were legit competition to the big 5

Same, but on the flip side we do have a "medium" 4 of perhaps Switzerland, Germany, Slovakia and Czechia being fairly competitive with each other, with Czechia debateably being the elevator team between the two groups (and Latvia offering the occasional challenge to this group). Before Germany and Switzerland were simply cannon fodder for the old "Big 7".

As for this question it's definitely Czech Republic even though I wouldn't comfortably put any money on them if they faced a full-force Switzerland in an Olympic game.

 

[WingsFan95]

The Czechs have never really slid past Top 6 status in terms of talent and have often been Top 4 in my opinion. They just have a tendency, like the Russians to underachieve. Meanwhile, when have the Swiss ever UNDERachieved?