Switzerland: Swiss players in North America

[stv11]

Gerber can still help some teams, but I'd be surprise if someone pick him up at such a salary

 

[swisshockey]

Gerber can still help some teams, but I'd be surprise if someone pick him up at such a salary

it's official. He was sent to the minors on a two week assignment:

http://swisshockey.net/?p=221

 

[torero]

Yannick Weber has been named starter for the AHL All Star game on january 26th.

2 defensmen playing all star games ... Streit in NHL and Weber in AHL.

OLE !

 

[swisshockey]

here is an interview I did with Jonas Hiller

 

[torero]

here is an interview I did with Jonas Hiller

I didn't know about François Allaire having a school in Switzerland. does he has many schools everywhere ? He seems to be a bit a reference in goaltending ... and when one sees the goalies that went out from Anaheim (where Allaire is goalie trainer) , Gerber, Bryzgalov ...

Great job for your interview ! congratulations.

i like your site. Keep working.

 

[torero]

Luca Sbisa was sent down to the Letherbridge Huricanes.

Pity for him, yet he will have more playtime, more power play situations and more games finish. Good for him in the long term.

++

Streit was injured the other day when playing the lightenings. After scoring what was to become the winning goal.

++

does anyone have news on the NHL clubs being interested in swiss players new events ??

 

[swisshockey]

does anyone have news on the NHL clubs being interested in swiss players new events ??

things are kinda quiet now. With Sbisa and Weber sent back down we only have three guys left in the NHL and only two (Hiller, Streit) play regularly. And now Streit is injured! Still it's a little disappointing we haven't heard anything else about Ambuehl for example?

 

[koh19]

Alain Berger from Bern said he wanted to leave switzerland next year and play in NA.

 

[torero]

Now ... Stephan (backup at Dallas stars) has been sent down to Bridgeport. So called to get ice time ... and in the first game he is on the bench !!

that sounds pretty strange ... i hope he is not out of favor !! did he do something to be out of favor ?? by the way did he have time ? he had poor stats ... but they were the same than Turco's when Tobias played !!
Does someone has another more optimistic interpretation on that ?

apparently hew arrived at 4.15pm (2 hours before the game) ... which may explain ... I seriously hope that because our swiss players in NA are just all falling apart !
GoSwissHockeyPlayersInNorthAmericaGo

++

good news !
Weber scored 2 goals to beat the record goals scored by a defensmen at Hamilton Bulldogs.
bad news !
Weber scored against Gerber in a Binghampton (sens) - Hamilton (habs) game.

 

[stv11]

Still it's a little disappointing we haven't heard anything else about Ambuehl for example?

Ambühl stated in an interview with the Corriere del Ticino (available here : http://www.solohockey.com/aa_pagine...ticolo=48115&idsezione=14&idsito=14&idtipo=28) that rumors he was contacted by Montréal are unfounded and that he's not really interested in playing in Sweden and would only leave Davos to go to North America.

 

[torero]

Ambühl stated in an interview with the Corriere del Ticino (available here : http://www.solohockey.com/aa_pagine...ticolo=48115&idsezione=14&idsito=14&idtipo=28) that rumors he was contacted by Montréal are unfounded and that he's not really interested in playing in Sweden and would only leave Davos to go to North America.

I was a bit disapointed how little interest he has in wanting to play abroad and in the fact that no one (NHL clubs) is in contact with him. He should be open to play in KHL in my view ! it is an intermediary step. But he doesn't seem to be willing to make the effort. Pitty ! with a bit of entrepreneurship ... he could in a couple of years end up in the NHL. (Berra, Stephan, Streit, Gerber ... all had to be proactive !) NHL scouts are not watching at the NLA to draft players! Swiss players have to initiate the move !

Maybe our friend from Swisshockey.com could give him a hand ?

 

[torero]

Streit plays again ... (he was injured since feb.05).

Nice to see him back and Islanders won the game ...
the last game they won was on feb 5th, with Streit.

 

[swisshockey]

Maybe our friend from Swisshockey.com could give him a hand ?

haha you mean swisshockey.net? (the .com domain was taken)
Problem is I'm not in Switzerland but in the U.S. Everything I see of the Swiss league is via internet. Maybe somebody will pay for me to go to the world championships. Yeah right. Well, a boy can dream, can't he?!?

 

[swisshockey]

here's a Q&A I did with Mark Streit at MSG last night:

http://swisshockey.net/?p=352

 

[torero]

haha you mean swisshockey.net? (the .com domain was taken)
Problem is I'm not in Switzerland but in the U.S. Everything I see of the Swiss league is via internet. Maybe somebody will pay for me to go to the world championships. Yeah right. Well, a boy can dream, can't he?!?

I understood that you were an expat ... in NY !

actually i was thinking that Ambuhl isn't displaying this entrepreneurship that made some swiss players play in the NHL. The way this Italian written article is written really shows it. Yet maybe you could make an article on your site about Ambuhl's readiness to play in NA and his capacity to score !

I am sure that some scouts read your site. Switzerland isn't a point of interest for NA scouts but the trend is our friend due to the recent success of some swiss players. Hence they will not spend money on Switzerland but looking at it for free and on english sites are the first steps. Yours seems to be the first they will be looking at. I do not expect NA scouts to speak German or French or Italian ! and online free translators or too vague and poor for constant use.
I see your site as a good entry point.

Congrats for it in any case. very pleasant to read.

+++

And Islanders won 4-0 against Devils !! Streit had 2 assists and 25 min playtime.

+++

nice article on Gerber ...
http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20090220/SPORTS01/902200324/1003/sports
Hopefully the window gets dressed well enough to attract an NHL team. Because it is obvious that he is talented.

 

[stv11]

Scouts probably don't follow the Swiss league as closely as the Swedish or Finnish ones, but still probably enough to know when a player has NHL potential and needs to be looked at. I doubt a fan webiste will make any difference (no offense to swisshockey, you're doing a great job).

 

[zecke26]

Scouts probably don't follow the Swiss league as closely as the Swedish or Finnish ones, but still probably enough to know when a player has NHL potential and needs to be looked at. I doubt a fan webiste will make any difference (no offense to swisshockey, you're doing a great job).

yep, there are a lot of scouts in switzerland. the problem in the past was that all highly-touted swiss players busted. michel "the swiss miss" riesen for example. many expected bartschi to succeed, but it never happened. only goalies worked well.
that's why NHL were hesitant about taking swiss players. tim ramholt is another example of a player who should have made it, but never did. or i remember julien vauclair who had all the tools and even played a NA-like game.

so all swiss hockey needed was some guys who can prove that it's possible to translate the game from swiss rinks to NA rinks. and i think sbisa and weber could be the guys. if they succeed i expect swiss player to get more recognition by scouts. much more.

 

[torero]

yep, there are a lot of scouts in switzerland. the problem in the past was that all highly-touted swiss players busted. michel "the swiss miss" riesen for example. many expected bartschi to succeed, but it never happened. only goalies worked well.
that's why NHL were hesitant about taking swiss players. tim ramholt is another example of a player who should have made it, but never did. or i remember julien vauclair who had all the tools and even played a NA-like game.

so all swiss hockey needed was some guys who can prove that it's possible to translate the game from swiss rinks to NA rinks. and i think sbisa and weber could be the guys. if they succeed i expect swiss player to get more recognition by scouts. much more.

I am very surprised by that !!! i guess they have part time jobs at best

Well, i didn't understand it in that way.

To me they are watching Switzerland. They are not actively searching and data-mining in Switzerland. If they would see someone, they would wait him to move first or to see him again and again. Unlike in SEL where they would rush on a 17year old rookie because he is 6" tall, weights 190 lbs and his brother is 25 and plays in NHL.

We had the "swiss goalie" light that was on ! and they started being interested in them. They have a leming attitude. You have to tag their daily life and they will go for it. A bit of Ambuhl here (World championship), the sensitivity is prepared and then a bit of Ambuhl their (His personal life ... with wife and hockey histroy on Swisshockey.net) and the interest grows. Finally some points in the next World championship, a nice game vs US or Canada or another well covered team and dors may open. ... and Swisshockey.net will have helped a not very entrepreneurial Ambuhl to find a job and get the green card !

That was my understanding ... now certainly you know more about this world ...
But it is my nature to doubt about "high professional people", i always believe that personal experiences and personalisation count a lot more in business decisions than what is admited.

PS Zecke, your avatar is awsome !

 

[zecke26]

I am very surprised by that !!! i guess they have part time jobs at best

don't laugh, most have.

most NHL teams have 4-6 full-time scouts in europe. they usually live in sweden, finland, russia and czech republic. no surprise since most european talent comes from this countries.
then they have sometimes part-time scouts. and of course they have people in coaching staff on teams they know. it's always good to know many people in that job.

of course the biggest tournaments are the best for scouts, but there are scouts in switzerland at a lot of games. once teams found an interesting player, they watch him again and again. but not too often since people might know you and other NHL teams could get a hint who you are scouting. it's a bit like a spy game.

i agree that they have to scout switzerland even more, because there's a lot of talent (same can be said for germany), but that will come. north america is overscouted and the same happens in sweden. so some NHL teams will try to get new markets.

when the sharks drafted germans, they started to scout here a lot. they found market that is not scouted as much as the traditional countries. so once swiss players will succeed, those teams could send out more guys to switzerland to scout.
everything is a matter of resources. but swiss players will get more recognition in the future.

PS Zecke, your avatar is awsome !

i'm a puck bunny.

 

[torero]

Gerber finds himself a Maple leafs !!

http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=1354327

i am really happy he gets a new chance ...
Grab it Martin, Grabit it !

 

[torero]

first game as a Leaf, Gerber really played awesome. (vs Caps w/o Ovechkin)

He gave up some rebounds and lost the shutout less than a minute before the end of the game on an amazing perfectly screened shot by Semin (6vs5).

37 save on 38 shots. 1st star of the game.

keep doing your job the way you can !!!

GoGerberGo

 

[torero]

Streit has been on fire these last 3 games with 3 goals and 3 assists.

winning against Habs (with 2 assists), loosing against Boston (1goal) and winning against Blackhawks (2 goals 1 assist).

Pitty Islanders play like that when they are not in the playoff race anymore. But still great games.

Congrats Mark.

 

[TheFirstSaviour]

This is a really interesting thread.

Unfortunately, it is true that Swiss prospects are massively underrated in North America. Players like Sbisa and Weber are helping to overcome this perception, however, even they are considered "legitimate" prospects because they have commited to coming over and playing in the CHL - to huge success.

Switzerland needs to focus on becoming far more competitive at a under 18 and under 20 level, IMO. These tournaments are massively important to Canadians, for example, and many hockey fans and scouts would even consider them far more telling than the World Championships each year during the NHL playoffs. During the under 20's, all of Canada is glued to their screens to see the next stars of the world - like Forsberg, Gaborik, Erik Johnson, Bure, Mogilny, Tavares, and Hedman. Even players like Tartar this season (possibly, not even a first round selection this June), become household names over Christmas each year.

I was very glad to see the Swiss return to the top flight this season, however now they need to prove that they have enough talent to compete with teams like Slovakia (4th this year) every year. Then perhaps people will see them as developing top level talent, which in my humble opinion, they actually are doing already. If the Swiss were to medal in the under 18's for the next two or three years, the number of scouts in this country would increase exponentially!

 

[stv11]

Medalling twice in the next couple of years is easier said than done, a good first step would be to regulary beat teams such as the Czech republic or Finland and rank between 4th and 6th instead of the usual 7th or 8th finnish.

Still, I find those tournaments to be massively overrated regarding the scouting aspect. Two weeks shouldn't be given as much weight as a whole season (played at a higher level in the case of prospects from major European league), let alone more as I feel it often is the case.

Anyway, I don't think you can focus on becoming more competitive at the U18 / U20 level, you need to improve the whole development system and success in international tournament will come as a reward. That's what was done in the 90s and resulted in Switzerland now clearly being the 8th best hockey nation. To get closer to the top teams, the next step would be to develop some top end talent and then Switzerland will be better scouted, hopefully starting a snowball effect (more talent -> more scouting -> more players given an opportunity -> more player developing top end talent...). Whether the whole movement starts with player coming from the Swiss league or going through the CHL route is, in my opinion, not important.

 

[TheFirstSaviour]

Medalling twice in the next couple of years is easier said than done, a good first step would be to regulary beat teams such as the Czech republic or Finland and rank between 4th and 6th instead of the usual 7th or 8th finnish.

Still, I find those tournaments to be massively overrated regarding the scouting aspect. Two weeks shouldn't be given as much weight as a whole season (played at a higher level in the case of prospects from major European league), let alone more as I feel it often is the case.

Anyway, I don't think you can focus on becoming more competitive at the U18 / U20 level, you need to improve the whole development system and success in international tournament will come as a reward. That's what was done in the 90s and resulted in Switzerland now clearly being the 8th best hockey nation. To get closer to the top teams, the next step would be to develop some top end talent and then Switzerland will be better scouted, hopefully starting a snowball effect (more talent -> more scouting -> more players given an opportunity -> more player developing top end talent...). Whether the whole movement starts with player coming from the Swiss league or going through the CHL route is, in my opinion, not important.

You can not argue that the World Junior Championships (both under 18 and under 20) have a huge impact on players' draft rankings and, ultimately, their draft position. Every scouting department, ranking service, and NHL GM pays close attention to what happens during these tournaments, without question.

Switzerland were relagated last year and did not participate this year in Ottawa. Ultimately, that reality will have a huge impact on the mentality and the perception of the young players in this country. Winning breads winning. If a bunch of under 18 year-olds experience success at a young age at an international level, they will carry it with them throughout their careers.

Pyschologically, IMO, many Swiss players and fans do not have a belief that they should be in the top tier of international hockey, for some reason. This is despite recent wins over the Czechs and Canadians in Italy, the Swedes in Quebec, and the relative ease at which Zurich won the Champions' League this season. How can you change this belief?

Yes, it does come from the grass roots. But the system is strong which is exemplified by the successes that I have already mentioned. Swiss hockey is good.

I realize that repeating the Bronze you won in the 1998 WJC will not be easy, and when I suggested that you win two or three medals on the trot I wasn't trying to imply that it is something that is going to happen immediately. But from my perspective (and I am by no means an expert having only lived here for one year), and in a way you have reinforced it, these tournaments mean very little to the Swiss. Until they do mean something, you will continue to struggle.

Can you beat the World at a professional level? Yes, you have shown glimpses of it. Can your kids compete with with the best at an amatuer level? Apparently not, based on the evidence at hand.

This is obvious to scouts and professional analysts in the hockey community as well.