Ivan Hlinka, Matti Hagman, Raimo Helminen

[Ziostilon]

What do you remember about the playing careers of each of these players.
Ivan Hlinka, Matti Hagman, Raimo Helminen

All three of them played large parts of their careers overseas. So, i believe they'd have some Canada Cups and World Championships in there

How would they have been relevant in today's NHL hockey?
For instance, is Matti Hagman ways above his son Nik Hagman

Click to read more...

 

[David Bruce Banner]

Hlinka came to the Canucks with another Czech, Juri Bubla (Juri Slegr's father).

Hlinka was with the Canucks two seasons and put up some pretty decent 60+ point seasons despite centering the 2nd or 3rd line and being lumbered with with wingers like Lars Molin, Tiger Williams, Gary Lupul and/or Jim Nill.

I recall both Hlinka and Bubla were considered "really old" when they came to the NHL, despite only being in their early 30's. Hlinka only lasted for the two Canuck years, but Bubla lasted five years, playing with the Canucks until he was 36.

I don't know why Hlinka only stuck around the two years. He was a better than "okay" player. Maybe he hated playing in North America. Maybe he hated playing on the Canucks (despite fluking into the SC final in his first season, the Canucks were pretty dismal at that time). Hell, maybe the Canuck front office did something stupid with/to him... in the entire history of hockey, there's been few worse front offices than the late '70's -> late 80's Canuck front office.

 

[Padan]

As a season ticket holder of Malmö, Raimo Helminen has been my favorite player since the 90's, since i catched a lot of his games between 1990-96. He had that sixth sense and could read the play like few others and was one hell of a playmaker. Dynamic both offensively and defensively.

 

[MS]

Helminen was one of a few guys who were probably 'stereotyped' out of the NHL during the mid-1980s, before people realized that Europeans who didn't play physical weren't necessarily one-way players who were useless if they weren't scoring 80 points/season.

There were a few guys like that (Hannu Virta on the blueline with Buffalo being another) who came over in their early 20s, and despite showing a fair bit of ability were done with the NHL by age 23-24, and instead ended up dominating Euro leagues for the next decade + rather than being in the NHL where they probably belonged.

Hlinka retired while he was still a very good NHL player, albeit at age 33 which was quite old for that era. Just guessing, I'd say that the fact that Vancouver had 3 skill Euro centers (Gradin and the promising Patrik Sundstrom) on the roster competing for icetime was probably a factor.

 

[Teus]

As a season ticket holder of Malmö, Raimo Helminen has been my favorite player since the 90's, since i catched a lot of his games between 1990-96. He had that sixth sense and could read the play like few others and was one hell of a playmaker. Dynamic both offensively and defensively.

I was also one of many Malmö fans that became a huge fan of his during that time and can only agree with the sixth sense comment. Amazing how he played hockey for another 12 years after leaving Malmö.

I've heard that he had back problems in late 80s, which could have been something that hindered his NHL career.

 

[skeena1]

Hlinka had what at the time was called a very "heavy" shot.

 

[Matti_A]

Raimo Helminen is probably one of the finest hockey players to ever come out of Finland.

I would personally rank him among the 5 greatest Finnish players of all time. I also believe it's safe to say he was blessed with the greatest hockey IQ of any Finnish-born player before or since.

To say Raimo Helminen is a modest and humble person would be an understatement. He is the very definition of the two words.

Helminen had that uncanny ability to completely dictate the flow and pace of the game when he had control of the puck. In his prime he was one of the best passers I ever saw.

Maybe one reason why he never made it in the NHL was his pass first mentality. Play-making and passing was his forte and you could jokingly say that he was so focused on making a play instead of shooting that even with an empty net in front of him he would still take a quick peek over his shoulder just to make sure there would be no one to pass the puck to before putting it in. He himself later on speculated that he didn't shoot enough while he played in North America. He also lacked the physical edge that made players like Forsberg so successful.

Helminen began his NHL career with the New York Rangers in the mid 80's. At that time the Euro-friendly Ranger organization was a good fit for him but he still had fellow center man Mark Pavelich ahead of him on the depth chart. He had a moderately successful rookie campaign by his standards (with 40 points in 66 games) and mostly saw 2nd or 3rd line duty battling for ice-time with another rookie, namely Mike Ridley.

The next season was tough for Raimo, when the Rangers renewed their management and brought in notorious euro-hater Phil Esposito to be the GM and hired Michel Bergeron as coach. Predictably he spent most of the season in the press box or with their minor league affiliate (New Haven). At the deadline he was traded to Minnesota. Minnesota didn't really regard him highly and offered him a rather poor deal so he decided to head back to Finland.

After winning silver with team Finland at the '88 Olympics in Calgary there was renewed interest in him from the NHL. He signed with the rebuilding Long Island Islanders as a free agent but his tenure with the Isles was marred by his ailing back problems. Ever since then he's had issues with sciatica.

As so many euro greats back then he was never able to break through in the NHL due to unfortunate timing and the fact that at that time euros were still, if no longer outright hated, largely disregarded.

So the reasons why he never had a successful NHL career is probably a combination of poor timing, injuries and an unsuitable style of play (not physical or straight forward enough for the standards at the time).

If he was in his prime today he might have ideally had Nicklas Bäckström or Henrik Sedin type of success in today's game.

 

[vulture77]

To say Raimo Helminen is a modest and humble person would be an understatement. He is the very definition of the two words.

I seem to remember the occasion when he broke one record or another, and was then interviewed.

The interviewer gave him huge praise and then asked a question to the like "how can you be this good?" or something similar.

Helminen looked quite embarrassed and very quietly said "I'm not good or anything...". What an ego he had!

 

[VMBM]

Ivan Hlinka

Along with Vladimir Martinec and Jiri Holecek, he sort of defined the Czechoslovak hockey for me, when I was a child and a CCCP hockey fan. Not that I have many clear memories about him and the way he played, but he was definitely one of their best and most dangerous players; big, strong, skilled and a leader (Captain of the Czechoslovak national team in the late '70s).

I've seen him being sometimes compared to Phil Esposito, but even though they were approx. the same size, I'm not so sure about the comparison. Sure, Hlinka was also dangerous in the slot, but I think he was generally a more versatile player than Espo (who could do many things well too if he wanted to - see 1972 SS) and clearly better and faster skater who - like many other Czech forwards - was very good at fast counter-attacks.

Hlinka was also often compared to the other Czech star, Vaclav Nedomansky. Even though he was not nearly as prolific scorer as 'Big Nedo', Hlinka was the better playmaker. I'd say Hlinka was the best Czechoslovak player around 1978-79.

 

[FinnGoalie]

I was also one of many Malmö fans that became a huge fan of his during that time and can only agree with the sixth sense comment. Amazing how he played hockey for another 12 years after leaving Malmö.

I've heard that he had back problems in late 80s, which could have been something that hindered his NHL career.

The pass @ 1:50 is the definition of Raimo Helminen.