Yakushev72
Registered User
- Dec 27, 2010
- 4,550
- 372
Blaming hockey players for leaving is not a good look for us, and is a distraction from the real systemic issues that exist in Russian hockey.
The idea that some hockey players leaving is spoiling everything and that if we only forced them to stay home it would all be all right doesn't fly with me.
I want them to stay, but I don't think our domestic situation is all that good either. Maybe in the pursuit of profit Russian hockey has lost track of what matters most in the long run: development.
What did you think I was saying above? When I talk about the tiny number of quality players who are developed in Russia, does that sound to you as if I'm praising the hierarchy, or trashing them? Per capita, Russia is the weakest hockey country among the top 6 in the world, and the absence of a depth of good hockey players is the standard measurement of that weakness.
When you talk about forcing them to stay home, what are you talking about - detention, imprisonment, targeting their families, holding them hostage? To say the least, that might actually make Russia's international image even lower that it is now. But when youth hockey on a domestic level is in its infant stages, and the country that financed the development of these kids wants to take advantage of their investment, I certainly think that kids who play at home should be given a favored, advantaged position, and kids that go to NA should only be included on national teams when they are true superstars like Ovechkin or Malkin. If the kids that go to NA are any good, they will stay in NA, and if they aren't good enough, then we don't need them anyway!