WC: 2014 Division IB • Apr. 20-26 • General Discussion (Mod warning post 453)

[bobbeaver]

No it isn't, in fact it is part of the IIHF's mission statement that International play should accurately reflect the standard of hockey in each country

Or maybe those sports are more popular than international hockey because they're more popular in general What is more popular than hockey internationally? Football, that's played worldwide, so it is extremely competitive. Rugby Union? Not very competitive outside the top 8. Cricket and Rugby league? Even less competitive. Basketball? USA wins all the time. After football, hockey is probably the most competitive team sport at international level

I can name a few, Bball is actually extremely competitive and all nationas are getting much better, and USA has been beaten on many occasions or has been given a really good run for its money. Its not 1994 when USA beat everyone by 40 points anymore. and everyone plays it from australia to finland and it fills the stands of many countries more than hockey. Cricket has 10 full member with Ireland pettitioning to be 11th, and West Indies team covers a big area and Islands. Indian alone has probably more viewers than hockey . But despite the rigidity of the cricket organization and not letting it grow, it is a religion in most of the countries played and stands are always full and it is very much competitive.
Handball is extremely popular in Europe Asia and parts of Africa and it is ahead of hockey aswell.

btw in football you ALSO have kids who work abroad start playing for their ethnic home country as juniors or seniors, even though they were brought up elsewhere and you can naturalize players. Bball same thing even easier if they wanted to.

And yes the plan is since the boom of hockey in Croatia and its development, to get help from Cronucks and a couple canucks to stay in better division till the young players arrive in (and through next) 10 years time. That way there would be even more interest in hockey and not just in Medvescak and more willingness to invest in Arenas in different cities. And for the NT for people to feel more for it. We do have talent. With 2 indoor ice rinks and a few outdoor ones we beat in the u18 group Netherlands, which has 20 ice rinks, and as we speak its 7:0 against GBR with atleast the same amount of icerinks. Imagine if they invested in the infrastructure.

 

[Siamese Dream]

I can name a few, Bball is actually extremely competitive and all nationas are getting much better, and USA has been beaten on many occasions or has been given a really good run for its money. Its not 1994 when USA beat everyone by 40 points anymore. and everyone plays it from australia to finland and it fills the stands of many countries more than hockey. Cricket has 10 full member with Ireland pettitioning to be 11th, and West Indies team covers a big area and Islands. Indian alone has probably more viewers than hockey . But despite the rigidity of the cricket organization and not letting it grow, it is a religion in most of the countries played and stands are always full and it is very much competitive.
Handball is extremely popular in Europe Asia and parts of Africa and it is ahead of hockey aswell.

btw in football you ALSO have kids who work abroad start playing for their ethnic home country as juniors or seniors, even though they were brought up elsewhere and you can naturalize players. Bball same thing even easier if they wanted to.

And yes the plan is since the boom of hockey in Croatia and its development, to get help from Cronucks and a couple canucks to stay in better division till the young players arrive in (and through next) 10 years time. That way there would be even more interest in hockey and not just in Medvescak and more willingness to invest in Arenas in different cities. And for the NT for people to feel more for it. We do have talent. With 2 indoor ice rinks and a few outdoor ones we beat in the u18 group Netherlands, which has 20 ice rinks, and as we speak its 7:0 against GBR with atleast the same amount of icerinks. Imagine if they invested in the infrastructure.

So what you are saying is you agree it's redundant, those sports are more popular worldwide than hockey because it is ingrained in culture, not because it's more competitive countries like India know cricket and nothing else.

Australians don't wake up in the morning and say "you know what, I'm going to watch rugby or cricket instead of ice hockey, because it's more competitive"

 

[Ivan94]

I don't care what heritage the player has, I think you should only be allowed to play for a country if you were developed there.

about 50% of croats live outside of croatia(including me). so your opinion is that 50% of a nation shouldn´t be able to represent their nation?

Those players who want to play for croatia have croat ancestors or an other non-monetary reason.

It´s ok, that a IIHF have rules which restrict the naturalization. Without this rule Qatar could give xxx-money to 25 NHL - players/mercenaries to build a good NT. just like russia in numerous other sports.

But there should be some exceptions of the rule(like FIFA-rules), for example if you have a parent which is born in the country you want to represent you don´t need to have ever played in this country.

 

[Siamese Dream]

about 50% of croats live outside of croatia(including me). so your opinion is that 50% of a nation shouldn´t be able to represent their nation?

This makes no sense, it's not 50% of a nation if they don't live in that nation

It isn't representig a nation, it's representing the hockey program of a nation

 

[SoundAndFury]

And yes the plan is since the boom of hockey in Croatia and its development, to get help from Cronucks and a couple canucks to stay in better division till the young players arrive in (and through next) 10 years time.

You really believe that is going to happen and it's that easy?

This makes no sense, it's not 50% of a nation if they don't live in that nation

It isn't representig a nation, it's representing the hockey program of a nation

This doesn't sound right. It does represent the nation, first and foremost. People living in foreign countries are an equal part of the nation and with EU immigration laws and globetrotter-ish spirit of this generation it will be even more so in the future. Very few countries at this level have a good local hockey program anyway, every decent prospects leaves at 14-15 for a good hockey country. For example, Lithuanian goalie moved to Sweden when he was 8. Now, he is probably their best player not named Dainius Zubrus and obviously Swedish couches are to than for that. So, is he not Lithuanian now?

 

[croAVSfan*]

And yes the plan is since the boom of hockey in Croatia and its development, to get help from Cronucks and a couple canucks to stay in better division till the young players arrive in (and through next) 10 years time.

Please tell me what boom ?

And what young players ? - Do you realize that every upcoming generation is actually worse despite presence of EBEL/KHL ??

Look at results of our National teams (Team Zagreb) that are playing in Slovenian leagues ?

And word development is simply non-existant in croatian hockey.

Please don't write nonsensess...

 

[bobbeaver]

You really believe that is going to happen and it's that easy?

OFC not, there are many factors that need to come together, but im positive that the lvl will grow considerably to what it is now and lessening the reliance of cronucks. Better conditions and better selection alone will produce better players, some training in other countries like Rendulic or Kanaet, and some training in the Croatian system, which im hopeing will be set up properly in a few years. How much it will grow depends on many factors and i cant speculate on that. But this is the plan of the Cro hockey federation.

 

[bobbeaver]

Please tell me what boom ?

And what young players ? - Do you realize that every upcoming generation is actually worse despite presence of EBEL/KHL ??

Look at results of our National teams (Team Zagreb) that are playing in Slovenian leagues ?

And word development is simply non-existant in croatian hockey.

Please don't write nonsensess...

And the boom im talking about is the full schools of kids in hockey clubs. It started with EBEL but it peaked with KHL. there used to be 40 kids (not kadets or juniors) in the Medvescak school, now there are 250, although there could be more but there is not enough ice even for them. This is Medvescak alone. After they build the small rink in Velesajam there will be just enough ice and ice time for a normal school with this many kids. Also the boom im implying is the building of infrastructure. The building of this small ice rink in Velesajam, the planned building of the new indoor ice rink in Dubrava (part of Zagreb), and possible roofing of the one in Sisak this year (it should be in the budget but who knows with that town). the Delnice one is being talked about making it completely indoor, and there is pressure to do it by the town and Medvescak representaives, but who knows when its gonna happen. This would mean much more ice time for all categories for all clubs, meaning better training. There were no plans or desires, or even thoughts in back of peoples minds about building ice rinks.
That is the biggest boom of hockey in every respect since.. well ever. Last 2 new rinks were 1970's indoor Velesajam, and semi outdoor Delnice in 2000's.

Just from this you can expect better quality players. Level of coaching is a different thing and what they do with raw talent, which could be learnt from Slovenians. I belive our coaches should be sent to study under foreign coaches to learn something and rais the lvl of coaching also, or simply bring those coaches here to be main trainers and croatian as assistant coaches. Especially the Goalie coaches. Also except this one indoor rink and the small rink that will be built, for ideal situations for all clubs to have proper ice time there should be one more ice rink on top, simply because hockey clubs arent only ones that need ice time.

Problem i see also is that there is only u18 EBEL we are participating but not the u20 EBEL and than Medvescak farm team. like a development lader to push those kids. Hopefully that will be set up in next few years. U18 doesnt mean much by itself.

WHich young players? Gjoni comes to mind. a great talent trained in Finland. Platuzic, Milicic, Jarcov...

Again any of those generations comeing up in next 5-6 years are those from the old pre EBEL times. Any real progress should be felt in 10 years time as those kids come to age from the EBEL times when you could have a more of a selection. You can also
These generations you can only train better in better competitions, from which, like in any sport, only a few might be good enough for seniors.

Team Zagreb is in juniors really best of the rest situation where best play in u18 EBEL.

The development in Croatia was and it still is in dire straights and much to be desired, but with the steps being taken and circumstances it will be much improved.
So please dont be rude if u havent got the facts right.

 

[croAVSfan*]

WHich young players? Gjoni comes to mind. a great talent trained in Finland. Platuzic, Milicic, Jarcov...
seniors.

.

Gjoni...if he reaches Kanaet's level (playing in Denmark) I will be satisified. Don't expect from him to be next Rendulic.

Others...they will be solid Division 2 A players, no doubt

 

[bobbeaver]

They will still be better than alot of the ones we have right now though Some of em right now are not division A2 material.
But what we do desperately need are good goalies. We have 2 20 year olds and a 24 year old in the net.


But the fact is without creating a strong Croatian league that is not atleast semi professional (seniors are amateurs really) , there wount be a big surge of extra good hockey players or raise of quality of the development of average players that dont make the Medvescak farm team or KHL as bigger talents. If what i said in last post was done, and that is about 10 times more than has been done in 60 years for hockey, it would mean there would be 4 clubs with normal (not fully ideal but still very workable) working conditions and a prerequisite for one more club to develope (again that would mean 10 years before they give seniors). 5 clubs is not enough but it is a start. And until there is an indoor Ice rink in most of the biggest towns in Croatia we wount have such a league.

 

[EbencoyE]

Australians don't wake up in the morning and say "you know what, I'm going to watch rugby or cricket instead of ice hockey, because it's more competitive"

No, they watch rugby and cricket because they know that have a competitive team to cheer for in those competitions. Baseball and basketball are growing tremendously in Australia because they are more competitive sports that Australia can actually take part in and they don't have ridiculous laws keeping players from playing for them if they want to.

Yes, a lot of sports are more popular than hockey to begin with but the biggest driving force when it comes to increasing awareness and support for a sport is actually having a team to cheer for. What's going to get more exposure in Italy - the Italians playing in Division 1A of the IIHF WHC, or playing and even beating the top teams in the World Baseball Classic, even with a roster of Italian-Americans? The MLB wants the WBC is be a big event and they know exactly what they're doing. The IIHF could learn a thing or two.

 

[EbencoyE]

USSR and communism really don't have very much in common, in this case. In many other cases too.

The basis of communist ideology is to view people as a worldwide working class, beyond national borders and identities. To value national identity is antithetical to communism. Hence the relation of the Soviets wanting the nationalities that made up the USSR to identify as "Soviet". It was state-mandated national identity like people seem to support in IIHF competition rather than personal national identity.

It may be hard to understand from a western point of view, but when you have Russians living in Ukraine, Croats living in Serbia, etc, etc, where you live and grew up becomes pretty irrelevant to national identity.

We are people with personal opinions and moral principles and that gives us the right to judge anyone in our own mind. And that way, legal isn't always right.

Fair enough, but rules should not be based on outsiders' personal opinions.

And yet, you say "It is a hockey tournament with teams based on national identity.". What defines the national identity for you? How the reasons on which player bases his decision for a personal gain equal national identity? If you say it's based on national identity it should be about national identity, shouldn't it?

I meant the national identity of the teams. As in it is country v.s. country rather than club v.s. club. National identity of a single human being is up to what that human being chooses to identify with for whatever reason, IMO.

What other sports exactly are you talking about?

You can pretty much name any sport and it will have more relaxed eligibility rules than the IIHF.

 

[SoundAndFury]

The basis of communist ideology is to view people as a worldwide working class, beyond national borders and identities. To value national identity is antithetical to communism.

Exactly. And yet it was you who called me a communist for stating that nationality or how we call it here "national identity" is actually important. Is it just me or that doesn't make sense?

Fair enough, but rules should not be based on outsiders' personal opinions.

Fair enough but 1) that's why I'm not collecting signatures for petition to change the rules, just ranting here 2) that's why most countries have stricter nationality laws than what you suggest which is something like saying "hi guys, I really feel like x-ian and identify with you, come on, make me citizen".

I meant the national identity of the teams. As in it is country v.s. country rather than club v.s. club. National identity of a single human being is up to what that human being chooses to identify with for whatever reason, IMO.

So if I feel like a Canadian now because I like maple syrup and I really identify with them because of it, does that make me a Canadian? It's that easy?

You can pretty much name any sport and it will have more relaxed eligibility rules than the IIHF.

That wasn't the point of what you were saying. The point was that those sports were more popular and more competitive because of it. If you're saying baseball that must be a joke, nobody even knows what baseball is in Europe other that there's a bat and a ball.

 

[Uncle Rotter]

What's going to get more exposure in Italy - the Italians playing in Division 1A of the IIHF WHC, or playing and even beating the top teams in the World Baseball Classic, even with a roster of Italian-Americans?

Italy has been using hockey teams larded up with Canadians for years.

 

[bobbeaver]

Italy is a whole other issue. The teams in italy are all in the Alps in smaller towns and villages except the one in Milano. You cant have any coverage or publicity (or a hockey boom) if u dont have bigger cities involved.

 

[kovacro]

The way I see it your federation is just out to get best possible players no matter what. If they had a choice they would substitute a Croat for a better Canadian without a blink of an eye. No other nation does that and it doesn't seem fair to me.

It's not that it ties me up in knots, maybe I came out a bit hysterical with this but it's just.. not cool.

Am I missing something here but are other nations not doing the same thing with Canadians gaining eligibility to play for their adopted national team? It's not just Croatia.

Did you not mention Kevin Dallman playing for the Kazahks? They have him on their NT at the expense of a home grown player. And their are countless other examples.

Do most federations not choose the best possible lineup, even if the player is an adopted citizen of the country?

Unfortunately, this is becoming more common place throughout international sports in general.

 

[jekoh]

No, they watch rugby and cricket because they know that have a competitive team to cheer for in those competitions. Baseball and basketball are growing tremendously in Australia because they are more competitive sports that Australia can actually take part in and they don't have ridiculous laws keeping players from playing for them if they want to.

Who exactly plays for the Australian national basketball team that didn't grow up there?

Having a lot of foreign players has never developped hockey's popularity in any of the countries that used them. If anything it hinders hockey's development in said countries.

What's going to get more exposure in Italy - the Italians playing in Division 1A of the IIHF WHC, or playing and even beating the top teams in the World Baseball Classic, even with a roster of Italian-Americans?

A team full of Italian-Canadians gave hockey zero exposure.

 

[Siamese Dream]

Am I missing something here but are other nations not doing the same thing with Canadians gaining eligibility to play for their adopted national team? It's not just Croatia.

Did you not mention Kevin Dallman playing for the Kazahks? They have him on their NT at the expense of a home grown player. And their are countless other examples.

Do most federations not choose the best possible lineup, even if the player is an adopted citizen of the country?

Unfortunately, this is becoming more common place throughout international sports in general.

In 1994 there were 15 Canadians on the Great Britain team

This year there are none.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Am I missing something here but are other nations not doing the same thing with Canadians gaining eligibility to play for their adopted national team? It's not just Croatia.

Did you not mention Kevin Dallman playing for the Kazahks? They have him on their NT at the expense of a home grown player. And their are countless other examples.

Most of the other countries don't go out of their way to insert as many North Americans as possible into the lineup. Yes, Dallman got the Kazakh citizenship but he has only played in 3 matches for them and in Kazakhstan's defense he was a captain of Barys at the time, an icon and a true superstar of their hockey. And it's only one guy, one time. Bochenski has already played four seasons for Barys, Dawes and Boyd 3 seasons and yet they are not in Kazakh NT even though they could be. Kazakhs don't just bring in any player that could help them into the NT the way Croats do.

P.S. In case you don't know Dawes - Boyd - Bochenski is one of the best lines in the KHL.

Do most federations not choose the best possible lineup, even if the player is an adopted citizen of the country?

Unfortunately, this is becoming more common place throughout international sports in general.

Most countries don't ask players to become citizens, that's the point. Croats just give out citizenship like candy to anyone willing to play for them the way no other country does. EBEL features teams from 4 countries and yet Austrians, Slovenians and Hungarians have zero Canadians in their NT even though Benoit Gratton, for example, just finished his sixth season in Vienna and I think it's really a place he calls home. John Hughes - two times a top scorer of the league - could play for Slovenia, nobody asked him to. How many players Germany could've gotten that way? Or even a lot smaller hockey countries like Great Britain, Holland or Romania? But they haven't.

I understand this is becoming more of a common place but luckily very few countries in hockey actually do that and I feel no sympathy for those who do.

 

[Siamese Dream]

In fairness Dawes, Boyd and Bochenski aren't Kazakh citizens and haven't been there long enough to be one, so they're not eligible

 

[SoundAndFury]

In fairness Dawes, Boyd and Bochenski aren't Kazakh citizens and haven't been there long enough to be one, so they're not eligible

I'm pretty sure Dallman became citizen after his third season with Barys. Bochenski has been there for four years - as long as Dallman so he absolutely is there long enough. Anyway, the point is that Croatians give you a passport pretty much the moment you set foot in Zagreb.

 

[ForumNamePending]

If people want to see hockey become more global and competitive I don't think weaker countries trying to strengthen their NT by using 'ringers' is going to deliver the results they desire.

Italy has relied heavily on NAs forever and it really hasn't gotten them anywhere in hockey nor hockey anywhere in Italy. IMHO for a country to become relevant in a sport and for a sport to become relevant in a country the federation for a given sport in a given country needs to take the 'hard way' and develope the internal infrastruture and 'culture' that can produce local interest and elite talent.

I hope Croatia while copying Italy short term is also taking a look at what countries like Denmark, Norway and their neighbor directly to the north have managed to build in recent years.

 

[kovacro]

Most of the other countries don't go out of their way to insert as many North Americans as possible into the lineup. Yes, Dallman got the Kazakh citizenship but he has only played in 3 matches for them and in Kazakhstan's defense he was a captain of Barys at the time, an icon and a true superstar of their hockey. And it's only one guy, one time. Bochenski has already played four seasons for Barys, Dawes and Boyd 3 seasons and yet they are not in Kazakh NT even though they could be. Kazakhs don't just bring in any player that could help them into the NT the way Croats do.

P.S. In case you don't know Dawes - Boyd - Bochenski is one of the best lines in the KHL.



Most countries don't ask players to become citizens, that's the point. Croats just give out citizenship like candy to anyone willing to play for them the way no other country does. EBEL features teams from 4 countries and yet Austrians, Slovenians and Hungarians have zero Canadians in their NT even though Benoit Gratton, for example, just finished his sixth season in Vienna and I think it's really a place he calls home. John Hughes - two times a top scorer of the league - could play for Slovenia, nobody asked him to. How many players Germany could've gotten that way? Or even a lot smaller hockey countries like Great Britain, Holland or Romania? But they haven't.

I understand this is becoming more of a common place but luckily very few countries in hockey actually do that and I feel no sympathy for those who do.

You can't just single out one country when others have and will continue to do it. What about countries taking on players with an ethnicity other than Canadian?

Is it fair that the following guys play or played for their adopted country:

Goran Bezina (born in Croatia) - Switzerland.
Leo Komarov (born in Russia) - Finland.
Luca Sbisa (born in Italy) - Switzerland.
Viktor Tikhonov (born in Latvia) - Russia.
Karil Starkov (born in Russia) - Denmark.
Petr Nedved (born in Czech Rep) but played for Canada in the 1994 Olympic Winter Games and in the recent Olympic games went back to play for the Czechs, how is that possible?

Shouldn't these players play or have played for the country they were born in?

Almost every national team at one time or another in recent memory has had Canadians. To say it's just Croatia that gives out "passports like candy" is ridiculous.

Here are more examples from just the past 5-10 years from some of the 'bigger' hockey nations who are frequent participants in the IIHF World Championships main group.

Italy: Adam Dennis, Trevor Johnson, Nate DiCasmirro, that's just a few and we know Italy has been doing this for the longest time.

Switzerland: Ryan Gardner, Hnat Domenichelli, Paul DiPietro

Germany: Rob Zepp, Garrett Festerling, John Tripp, Chris Schmidt, T.J Mulock.

Japan: Aaron Keller, they also used Canadian kids like Chris Yule and Ryan Kuwabara in the past as well.

What about the USA, even they have done it in the past & present...
Paul Statsny, Brett Hull & Adam Deadmarsh (born in Canada) and played for the USA in numerous international tournaments.

Even smaller hockey nations like Serbia, S. Korea, Australia, Holland, Belgium have had or have a North American player or two on their roster in recent memory.

Are you an insider with the Croatian Government? Because you seem to know about who they ask to become a citizen and how the NT goes about their business in putting together their roster for international tournaments in terms of who they try to acquire from other nations or do you just have something against Croatia because you have pretty much singled them out.

Even though a guy like Joel Prpic was born in Sudbury Ontario, his parents were born in Croatia and came over to Canada. He never would have played for Canada because he simply was not good enough so he was eligible to play for Croatia because his parents were born there. What is wrong with that?

Btw, what Slovenia and Denmark have done in terms of international hockey has been very impressive. I hope Croatia can reach that level or at least get somewhat close to it one day.

 

[SoundAndFury]

You can't just single out one country when others have and will continue to do it. What about countries taking on players with an ethnicity other than Canadian?

No other country does in such quantities as Croatia. Italy is pretty close though but their situation is a bit different. This has already been discussed, I don't want to repeat myself.

Is it fair that the following guys play or played for their adopted country:

Goran Bezina (born in Croatia) - Switzerland.
Leo Komarov (born in Russia) - Finland.
Luca Sbisa (born in Italy) - Switzerland.
Viktor Tikhonov (born in Latvia) - Russia.
Karil Starkov (born in Russia) - Denmark.
Petr Nedved (born in Czech Rep) but played for Canada in the 1994 Olympic Winter Games and in the recent Olympic games went back to play for the Czechs, how is that possible?

Shouldn't these players play or have played for the country they were born in?

All those players have nothing to do with what we are talking about. Starkov, Bezina, Sbisa and Komarov, who was born in Estonia and not Russia, by the way, moved to the countries they are now playing for at the very early age and even though ethnically they are not Dane, Swiss and Finn the choice was their's to make and it kinda makes sense to choose the country you've spent your whole life in, doesn't it? Especially since Bezina and Komarov were born in places where hockey almost doesn't exist and Sbisa - where hockey doesn't exist AT ALL.

Tikhonov playing for Latvia would be a bit comical since grandpa is probably the biggest personality of Russian (Soviet) hockey. Yeah, so it happens that he was born in Riga where his father was working at the time, so what? If he had been born in Finland where his father worked few years later, would it mean he's a Finn?

Nedved is a different case altogether and it only happened due to the extraordinary political circumstances. Dainius Zubrus has similarly played for both Russia and Lithuania too, that doesn't mean Nedved isn't Czech and Zubrus isn't Lithuanian.

Long story short - these players are in no way relevant to this discussion.

Almost every national team at one time or another in recent memory has had Canadians. To say it's just Croatia that gives out "passports like candy" is ridiculous.

Here are more examples from just the past 5-10 years from some of the 'bigger' hockey nations who are frequent participants in the IIHF World Championships main group.

Italy: Adam Dennis, Trevor Johnson, Nate DiCasmirro, that's just a few and we know Italy has been doing this for the longest time.

Switzerland: Ryan Gardner, Hnat Domenichelli, Paul DiPietro

Germany: Rob Zepp, Garrett Festerling, John Tripp, Chris Schmidt, T.J Mulock.

Japan: Aaron Keller, they also used Canadian kids like Chris Yule and Ryan Kuwabara in the past as well.

What about the USA, even they have done it in the past & present...
Paul Statsny, Brett Hull & Adam Deadmarsh (born in Canada) and played for the USA in numerous international tournaments.

Even smaller hockey nations like Serbia, S. Korea, Australia, Holland, Belgium have had or have a North American player or two on their roster in recent memory.

<...>

Even though a guy like Joel Prpic was born in Sudbury Ontario, his parents were born in Croatia and came over to Canada. He never would have played for Canada because he simply was not good enough so he was eligible to play for Croatia because his parents were born there. What is wrong with that?

I think I have covered all of this in post #34.

Are you an insider with the Croatian Government? Because you seem to know about who they ask to become a citizen and how the NT goes about their business in putting together their roster for international tournaments in terms of who they try to acquire from other nations or do you just have something against Croatia because you have pretty much singled them out.

Does one really need to be an insider to notice something that obvious? And yes, I am singling Croatia out, I think I was very clear about my reasons in posts #34 and #42.

 

[jekoh]

Goran Bezina (born in Croatia) - Switzerland.
Leo Komarov (born in Russia) - Finland.
Luca Sbisa (born in Italy) - Switzerland.

Shouldn't these players play or have played for the country they were born in?

No. They should play for the country they grew up in. Where they were born makes no difference.