Janne Ojanen
Ojanen played 98 NHL games. That's at least somewhat of a chance. For European skill players (or whatever you would like to call them) I would say Thomas Rundqvist is probably a better choice. He only got 1 or 2 games in Montreal with the Canadiens in the middle of the 80s, spending rest of the season in the AHL. He later captained Sweden to a gold medal at the World Championships.
I'm not saying Rundqvist would have been a big hit in the NHL had they given him more games though. His Färjestad contemporaries Loob and B-Å Gustafsson were both better players and also had styles better suited for the NHL game. He probably could have hanged around though.
Regarding Jonathan Hedström (@Hobnobs), I don't think he was anything special. Peter Nordström was a better player and never got a serious chance with the Bruins, I think 1 game. I remember he was a little sour or bitter about it saying the only thing he learned in the AHL was new swearwords.
Eldebrink was a legitimate good player, but didn't he chose to go back to Sweden on voluntary premises?
Kinda a two parter..
Someone mentioned this guy Chris Valentine in some other thread. Dude scored 30g 37a for 67 points in 60 games as a rookie in '81-'82. He then somehow played most of the next season in the AHL, torching that league and putting up 17 points in 23 games when he was called up. Next year, 11 points, 22 games, so definitely a bit of a slide but still seemingly serviceable, even if it was the high scoring '80s. Still spent most of that year in the AHL though. After that the dude shipped out to Germany and just wrecked house there for a decade (103 points in 45 games one year) before calling it quits.
So
1) Anyone know the story there? Was his D that bad? Problems with management? Crazy to me that he put up 95 points in his first 105 games and that wasn't good enough.
2) Any players you can think of that just didn't get a fair shake in the NHL? What about those dudes who torched the AHL but just couldn't quite play at the NHL level?.
Tony Hand was the Gretzky in the British League. Sather invited him to camp, would've made team but felt homesick.
Alexander Khokhlachev.
Erich Kuhnhackl
The knock on Chris Valentine was his poor skating (according to scouts) and that is why he was drafted so late (10th round). Valentine was really promising, but impatient. He bolted for Europe way too early. Düsseldorf offered him a better salary than he had in the NHL/AHL.
In Düsseldorf, Valentine teamed up with Peter-John Lee, a former first round draft pick in the NHL and a two-time 30+ goal scorer in the league. They had instant chemistry and formed a formidable duo. Valentine didn’t complain, he played less games in Europe and was handsomely paid for his service.
He thrived on the powerplays, where he was deadly. All-in-all he had a very successful playing career over in Europe.
Yeah, Hand have stated that he was homesick, and I heard that the North American mentality did not suit him that well. Those were different times back then, a lot tougher for Europeans than today.
Hand was talented, and could have made the NHL if he had just toughened it out a little.
One guy from the Edmonton Oilers organization (who shall remain nameless), told me (many years later) that Hand was almost lapped by Mark Messier when they were doing skating drills in training camp. Other than that Hand did pretty well in training camp and did not look out of place.
World class talent, but a really ****ty attitude spoiled his NHL-chances.