Where are the next Forsbergs, Selannes. NOWHERE!!!

[THE NEXT ONE #87]

If u look at the players from Sweden and Finland u recognize that their elite players are all above 30.

The new guns dissapoint like nilsson, sedins, etc. even the Fins

What´s happend?

Only country at the moment in Europe with super talents is Russia

Click to read more...

 

[kmad]

don't tell Tuomo Ruutu that Finland has no superstars coming up

 

[BuppY]

If u look at the players from Sweden and Finland u recognize that their elite players are all above 30.

The new guns dissapoint like nilsson, sedins, etc. even the Fins

What´s happend?

Only country at the moment in Europe with super talents is Russia

Yah sweden has been in some trouble, for a while now and Finns have been producing some great Goalies, but offensive players are hard to come by.

 

[TML]

... or Joni Pitkanen, Henrik Zetterberg, Alex Steen, Niklas Bergfors, Loui Eriksson, or Kari Lehtonen...

 

[BuppY]

don't tell Tuomo Ruutu that Finland has no superstars coming up

I think he was talking about in general not just one player.

 

[Diaboli]

I think he was talking about in general not just one player.

Yeah, I mean, when Selänne was on top of his game, NHL was swarming with Finnish superstars. Right?

How about Lehtonen and Pitkänen? There's three mentioned, which is one more, than how many Finns have ever had in the NHL. As a big star I mean. The two are of course Selänne and Kurri. Koivu is my favourite player, but he is not really a big star, although some think he is.

 

[mooseOAK*]

The original poster does have a point. in the late '80's and early '90's the league had Forsberg, Sundin, Lidstrom, Naslund, and Alfredsson coming out of Sweden. And little to fill the pipeline since.

Looking at the bigger picture the NHL in the last half of the '80's towards the early '90's had those guys plus Lemieux, Sakic, Roy, Yzerman, Nolan, Brodeur, Lindros, Blake, Pronger either come into the league or be very young at the time.

We haven't had that type of quality since.

 

[An Ape called Yoko]

I don´t think people realize how much competetion icehockey has in sweden. Fooball(or Soccer as you call it) is number one by far and wide margin. Football has a ton of attention in media. Then hockey is number two, but then theres a lot of sports who come close like Handball or track and field. Sweden is good at so many different sports and with a population of just nine million it will be impossible to maintain and be great in all sports.

Also theres a sport who is growing extremely fast who takes a lot of talents from hockey which is "floorbandy". Its like hockey except you play with a ball with holes in it and of course its not on ice

And Sweden IS NOT AS BAD as some of you wants to make out. Swedish players are latebloomers(Zetterberg, Niklas Nordgren, Magnus Kahnbert etc etc). Because they don´t get to play as much in the seniors as for example finnish players. Swedish system is built on depth. And sooner or later some quality players always pop up. But of course we lack Peter Forsberg and Mats Sundin talent... but who doesnt(except canada and russia?)

 

[Epsilon]

While Sweden has dried up quite a bit lately, Finland has really never been better. While they might not be pumping out slick offensive stars like Kurri and Selanne right now, they are producing great players in all other areas (goaltending, defensemen, two-way forwards).

 

[Riddarn]

Also theres a sport who is growing extremely fast who takes a lot of talents from hockey which is "floorbandy". Its like hockey except you play with a ball with holes in it and of course its not on ice

Floorball

And yeah, floorball is way bigger than hockey in terms of how many who play it, nowdays.

 

[kmad]

The problem is that the Swedish infrastructure is focusing more on developing game fundamentals like defense and hard work ethics rather than flashy playmaking and goalscoring that led to the rise of players like Naslund, Forsberg, and Sundin. We'll see a steady flow of well-rounded players coming from Sweden, but no superstars for a while.

Note: Lidstrom was never highly touted as a top-end defenseman until AFTER he was drafted.

 

[THE NEXT ONE #87]

don't tell Tuomo Ruutu that Finland has no superstars coming up

Ruutu won´t be a caliber of a Selanne, Koivu or Kurry...

 

[THE NEXT ONE #87]

I think he was talking about in general not just one player.

correctly

 

[Riddarn]

The problem is that the Swedish infrastructure is focusing more on developing game fundamentals like defense and hard work ethics rather than flashy playmaking and goalscoring that led to the rise of players like Naslund, Forsberg, and Sundin. We'll see a steady flow of well-rounded players coming from Sweden, but no superstars for a while.

I don't agree. There isn't really an infrastructure to talk about. Never was. There are no real development systems and hockey schools like in eastern europe. Sure there are some hockey high schools and the national team have some camps but apart from that most of the time players come from small amateur clubs where everybody works for free (most of the parents). This is good in a way that alot of people get involved, however I suspect this is a problem because the quality of coaches and trainers differ and each and every little club has their own philosophy of how to do things. The explaination has to do with the fact that hockey is an upper class "uncool" sport in sweden where the best talents choose to play soccer when they reach 14-15 years of age. Also alot of the young people (under 18) are immigrants and practically none of them play hockey.

 

[kmad]

Ruutu won´t be a caliber of a Selanne, Koivu or Kurry...

Ruutu is already better than Koivu.

And I'd bet you anything that if Ruutu played ten years to the left of Gretzky, he'd have over 1000 points too.

 

[mytor4*]

and don't forget about m zidlicky.may not be a proven star but the 2nd highest point getter as a defencemen in the league last yr.

 

[An Ape called Yoko]

Also alot of the young people (under 18) are immigrants and practically none of them play hockey.

Yup. There was a player born 89 in Ã…ngermanland named Josip Pavic who was really talented. He ended up choosing soccer We loose to many talents

But at least we have Dragan Umicevic who is KICKING MAJOR ASS now in SEL. So hopefully he´ll be a NHL-star(like jokinen says) and becomes a major influence for immigrants to play hockey. Just like Zlatan is in soccer.

 

[wilka91*]

Russia was also in big trouble from about 1993 until 2001 at the exception of Samsonov! But that's because the country was too poor and people had nothing to eat!!!

 

[Riddarn]

But at least we have Dragan Umicevic who is KICKING MAJOR ASS now in SEL. So hopefully he´ll be a NHL-star(like jokinen says) and becomes a major influence for immigrants to play hockey. Just like Zlatan is in soccer.

He could very well turn into the Zlatan of Hockey. Lets hope so. In any case something should be done to make hockey more affordable to kids that are less fortunate. But in order to do that two things must happen: More rinks need to be built and price of equipment must be reduced (alot).

 

[MaV]

I don't really think there is much changing in Finnish hockey. This is how I see the Finnish point producing forwards:

Teemu Selänne 10th Overall in 1988 Draft
Saku Koivu 21st Overall in 1993 Draft
Olli Jokinen 3rd Overall in 1997 Draft
Tuomo Ruutu 9th Overall in 2001 Draft

and then possibly Jesse Joensuu in 2006 Draft

Looks pretty consistent to me.

 

[It Kills Me]

remember Jokinen, and Ruutu?

 

[hfboardsuser]

Interesting that floorbandy and soccer are competing for talent... for some of you who don't know, Gretzky was a skilled baseball player. He could easily have chosen the MLB instead of the NHL.

There's a quote from a Hockey News article on the falling disparity between player origins that's something like "Chances are, if there's another Gretzky out there, he's not playing hockey".

What if that's me?

 

[The Vengabus]

The new guns dissapoint like nilsson, sedins, etc. even the Fins

*Puts on homer hat*

You can't say that.

Why put a prospect who is not living up to potential with two players who are 2nd liners on a contender? Let Nilsson play an NHL game, let alone score 50+ points in a season. Are they Heatley and Gaborik? **** no, but calling the Sedins 'busts' is not right.

 

[regdunlap7]

Ruutu won´t be a caliber of a Selanne, Koivu or Kurry...

He won't have the monster goal scoring seasons that Selanne had early in his career, but overall he'll be better.

I think his scoring numbers could be better than Koivu's.

Kurri's numbers are untouchable by just about everyone in today's style.

 

[PanthersRule96]

HEY!!!!

Eero Sumovuori (sp?) is the next Selanne. He's gonna win the calder this year.......no, really, he is. :lol