LadyStanley
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http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/....html?tx_ttnews[backPid]=955&cHash=264c14fadb
IIHF's Lukas (or Lucas) Aykroyd wonders if there are too many Europeans "stuck" in the AHL (7 of the 46 at the AHL ASG were Europeans).
2006 study = pre lockout stats, pre cap, UFA @ 31, teams could hold European player's rights until they became UFAs, and existence of IIHF-NHL transfer agreement. That's not reality the world of the last five years, nor indicative of the future.
And he goes on to say there'd be more room for North American players to develop in AHL if there weren't any Europeans.
http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/....html?tx_ttnews[backPid]=955&cHash=c634c86390
In a second article, he takes the NHL All Star format to task.
http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hockey/comments/the_iihfs_still_as_subtle_as_a_brick/
KK's reaction
Mod note -- no regional bashing. Just address the issues of the article and the business aspects of the current CBA, etc.
IIHF's Lukas (or Lucas) Aykroyd wonders if there are too many Europeans "stuck" in the AHL (7 of the 46 at the AHL ASG were Europeans).
When a young European player leaves his native country early in his career to try his luck in North America, it can affect that country’s ability to develop a strong domestic league and national team. It can also affect the player’s ability to maximize his own talent. And in neither case is the effect necessarily positive.
...
“A lot of guys are leaving from the Czech junior league because they don’t get a chance to play in the pro league there,” Repik told IIHF.com. He added that he thought playing in North America would offer more exposure to NHL scouts. As well, many North American teams and agents believe that a stint in Canadian major junior hockey or the AHL will ease a European’s transition to the more straightforward, physical style on the smaller ice surface.
However, what is the best route in practice for young Europeans who want to enjoy a meaningful career in the NHL, the world’s richest league?
The IIHF did an in-depth 2006 study showing that most Europeans who played more than 400 games in the NHL had spent four or five seasons building their skills in their homeland’s top league. They’d also progressed enough to contribute on their national team. In this successful group, few spent much time in the AHL or any time in Canadian junior. Instead, they were basically NHL-ready when they finally crossed the Atlantic.
As a group, these Europeans got more NHL playing time, Olympic roster spots, fame and fortune, and so on than those who came over too early and had to stay a few rungs down the North American hockey ladder.
2006 study = pre lockout stats, pre cap, UFA @ 31, teams could hold European player's rights until they became UFAs, and existence of IIHF-NHL transfer agreement. That's not reality the world of the last five years, nor indicative of the future.
And he goes on to say there'd be more room for North American players to develop in AHL if there weren't any Europeans.
http://www.iihf.com/home-of-hockey/....html?tx_ttnews[backPid]=955&cHash=c634c86390
In a second article, he takes the NHL All Star format to task.
As a rule, it doesn’t matter whether it’s called Staal versus Lidström, East versus West, Campbell versus Prince of Wales. What we’ve seen under modern-day All-Star Game formats is Olympic-calibre talent, but nothing like Olympic-calibre competition.
The most notable exceptions to the usual sleepwalking All-Star style have come when the NHL has faced international competition, at the 1979 Challenge Cup and Rendez-Vous ‘87.
...
So, how about reviving that league-versus-league, continent-versus-continent fever? It’s something the NHL tried to do with “North America versus the World” between 1998 and 2002. Yet after the first couple of years, that in-house format – NHLers on NHLers – lost its zest, and yielded the same half-speed style of play.
...
Yet the possibility of seeing an NHL all-star team face off against all-stars from multiple European leagues holds strong potential. The international stars that IIHF.com interviewed in Raleigh reacted with measured optimism to the idea.
http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hockey/comments/the_iihfs_still_as_subtle_as_a_brick/
KK's reaction
Mod note -- no regional bashing. Just address the issues of the article and the business aspects of the current CBA, etc.