Some very good points you brought up... I like this discussion so far, how it is going...
That doesn't make them worse hockey players in my mind. They just like to play a different brand of hockey. If you look at it like that, hockey is a special sport in that relation; you can play it really physical or really unphysical, the game will be a lot different - but it's still hockey. Not everyone excells in the same facetts of the game and still all are part of the game.
That's what I wrote above... They're not bad hockey players, but if you look at it in the NHL-eye (and that is, what scouts and GMs do, because it's their main focus), those players are just not complete hockey-players....
Would you say that every single roster spot in the NHL is filled with the best possible hockey players on earth? There was a time where I believed that every NHL player is a super skilled superstar, but if you follow the NHL more closely you'll notice that this isn't the case (and in the moment where I realised that I was a bit disenchanted) and that there are a lot of players in Europe who better know how to play the game of hockey, but just aren't tough or strong enough. Being physical is only 1 part of the game, not everything. Hockey is so much more, that's why I love this sport, but north americans don't like the game without fighting and hard hits.
That is pretty hard to say, because we would have to know all the players in the world to judge that. And yes, you are absoletly correct, that probably there are some players who would be better suited for a role, that is taken by another player...
But, there is the human part of the business, as not everybody want's to live in Northamerica or if he does he doesn't like it... I used to live and work in the United States, because it was always my dream and I wanted to fullfill it... When I was there and got to known the working-world of the US I realized how great it is in Switzerland and how good things are back home. So based on that I quit my dream and returned and that is also something every hockey player has the right to do so...
But if his dream is the NHL and he want's to player there, even desperatly like Andrighetto he has to stay close the NHL. I think that's the difference between all those Mark Streits and Roman Wicks... Streit wanted to go so desperatly he did the unthinkable and tried a route, which was close to impossible to get through and going as an undrafted player to play in the AHL... He also told once in the NHL, that he will even cary the pucks, in order just to stay in, because it was his dream...
Then there are the Wicks, who just love their free time, hanging around and playing the guitar, sleeping in their home-bed every night, so it is clear that Northamerica is nothing for them...
What I want to say with this, is that there probably is a better player in the World for a certain role, but he just isn't the Northamerica-typ... But that has nothing to do, that a Swiss should play first in the Switzerland and then try it in Northamerica in my eyes...
Some very un-Swiss thinking right there...
Another part where we don't think alike it seems. Players are not the slaves of those managers. Those who reign should do so in favour of the people - the players. Many Swiss players lost money and important career years because they got eaten by that greedy NHL monster. Why should a player whose dream is to play among the best in the world be treated like a commodity? Why should he HAVE to go to north america to get recognized in our globalized world?
Well I think we are not far away in Switzerland from that System.... Or what would you call the A- and B-Licence System that we have in Switzerland...
The SC Bern for example takes all his under-17Novice Elite Roster Players under contract, so they basicly can not change the club with out the club agreeing to it. If a player does not sign, he get's droped...
The ZSC/GCK-Organisation is pulling their junior player from team to team... There are Kids who play in 3 to 4 different teams in one season... Same when they're getting closer to the Pro-Level, where they play NLB and sometimes 1. Liga and with the Elite B and Elite A... So Slaves? I don't know, but if you desperatly want to become a Pro-Hockey player you have to do what the business-hockey man is asking from you!
Those guys are billionaires but they can't hire personell in Switzerland to do a scouting job? Come on...
Who tells you they can't hire personell in Switzerland? I think the question more is do they want to and do they need to?
Again, it's not like Switzerland is looked at in Northamerica as a "justhavetowatch"-League like Sweden, Finland or maybe Russia... Call it arogant or maybe just being realistic... Who knows, maybe that will change, since we just had now 10 Kids out of Switzerland who decided to pursue a career in Northamerica and some sure could make some noise there...
But it's maybe also something that will confirm Scouts and GMs in Northamerica, that in Switzerland we are doing a solid job in developing hockey-talents, but they are making bigger and faster progress in Northamerica, because they focus on the important things in forming a NHL-Player...
This arrogant behaviour is a reason why more and more russians prefer to stay in their home country IMO. Why shoud he endure 40h bus rides and under 100'000 US$ per year if he has better competition and a better salay in the KHL?.
There are many other reasons to this, which also goes into the part where we were talking about slaves and stuff and of course the unreal (oil-)money that is paid in Russia...
Looking forward to your answer....
Now I'm not saying, that all your mentioned players are not talented, but I'm pretty sure none of them would have been considered sure-fire NHL-Players in the pre-rule enforcement time...
