Latvia: Latvian prospects

[Justinov]

Philip Larsen for Frölunda...could be 19/20 on this picture - around when he played WJC - could though be a picture from where he was younger, but for the point of it all as a danish he could look like that as 20!

So that I understand could be quite shocking for a canadian

 

[BalticWarrior]

Teodors blugers
#1 babyface of all our prospects(Piedod,teodor)

bump

 

[Justinov]

Teodors blugers
#1 babyface of all our prospects(Piedod,teodor)

Great...it's good to have a few, so fans really can feel like old dinosaurs

 

[BalticWarrior]

Anyways about the whole big and bulky prospects thing- it depends what our developments goals are if we want NHL ready or close to prospects than we need these 6`1,6`2 "machines",but if lets say in 15-20 years say a league like KHL rivals NHL and keeps most of european prospects home,the issue is not that big as hockey in europe is played on big rinks,so physicality is less important.

 

[Justinov]

Anyways about the whole big and bulky prospects thing- it depends what our developments goals are if we want NHL ready or close to prospects than we need these 6`1,6`2 "machines",but if lets say in 15-20 years say a league like KHL rivals NHL and keeps most of european prospects home,the issue is not that big as hockey in europe is played on big rinks,so physicality is less important.

True......people often forget how big the difference is between big ice and small ice.
So if the goal is WC and Olympics then small technical and fast players are great. If you want fame and fortune in NHL then you need big guys.

 

[BalticWarrior]

True......people often forget how big the difference is between big ice and small ice.
So if the goal is WC and Olympics then small technical and fast players are great. If you want fame and fortune in NHL then you need big guys.

You know i`m really pulling for KHL success,i like NHL,but im sick of it`s ******** not respecting WC and theres even a chance they dont commit to Olympics,so in that respect it would be great if all best young Latvians,danes,germans,russians,swedes,finns,czechs,slovaks stayed home.

 

[Justinov]

You know i`m really pulling for KHL success,i like NHL,but im sick of it`s ******** not respecting WC and theres even a chance they dont commit to Olympics,so in that respect it would be great if all best young Latvians,danes,germans,russians,swedes,finns,czechs,slovaks stayed home.

It could get really interesting if NHL dont' respect the olympics because all the Russian stars will go play in Sochi no matter what; and i totally understand them.
As a russian hockey player playing on home ice at the olympics...it doesn't get bigger than that.
If they get fired in the NHL because of that...then they might go play in KHL even though they should be in querentine......that could change a lot in hockey.
I think though they will respect the olympics, but WC will always be underrated.

This irritates me as well, but it has been good to the smaller nations these last years since we get more competative. We beat USA 5-2 and played Canada 2-2 in our debut in 2003 (not counting 1949) - and hockey made frontpages!! That would never have happened with stacked NA teams.

 

[BalticWarrior]

It could get really interesting if NHL dont' respect the olympics because all the Russian stars will go play in Sochi no matter what; and i totally understand them.
As a russian hockey player playing on home ice at the olympics...it doesn't get bigger than that.
If they get fired in the NHL because of that...then they might go play in KHL even though they should be in querentine......that could change a lot in hockey.
I think though they will respect the olympics, but WC will always be underrated.

This irritates me as well, but it has been good to the smaller nations these last years since we get more competative. We beat USA 5-2 and played Canada 2-2 in our debut in 2003 (not counting 1949) - and hockey made frontpages!! That would never have happened with stacked NA teams.

Well justinov,they would still send half-assed squads cause for US and Canada its all about the Lord Stanley,its the most important thing, supposedly, in any hockey players life although i can say without hesitating atleast for latvian players even getting bronze on WC would be million times more important than winning Stanley cup.
I`m sick of waiting/hoping that NHL/AHL bosses will be so kind and realease our players for international tourneys,its complete hockey imperialism and that i dont like.

 

[Justinov]

Well justinov,they would still send half-assed squads cause for US and Canada its all about the Lord Stanley,its the most important thing, supposedly, in any hockey players life although i can say without hesitating atleast for latvian players even getting bronze on WC would be million times more important than winning Stanley cup.
I`m sick of waiting/hoping that NHL/AHL bosses will be so kind and realease our players for international tourneys,its complete hockey imperialism and that i dont like.

So most of the latvian prospects wants to go for NHL, but the fans mostly want a good national team for WC?

 

[BalticWarrior]

So most of the latvian prospects wants to go for NHL, but the fans mostly want a good national team for WC?

WC has always been a priority to our fans,it`s good that most of our players are playing in KHL,so we dont have worry about will the clubs release the players for international tourneys(also olympic qual) and thats really positive IMO.

 

[Justinov]

WC has always been a priority to our fans,it`s good that most of our players are playing in KHL,so we dont have worry about will the clubs release the players for international tourneys(also olympic qual) and thats really positive IMO.

Yeah perhaps because of the long tradition for hockey in Latvia. I personally favour WC and OG, but it seems some danish fans actually rather think Stanley Cup.
Maybe its a generational thing....what kind of hockey you grew up with. I never saw NHL as a kid but always WC from swedish television.
Now kids are only an internetclick away from NHL....

 

[BalticWarrior]

Yeah perhaps because of the long tradition for hockey in Latvia. I personally favour WC and OG, but it seems some danish fans actually rather think Stanley Cup.
Maybe its a generational thing....what kind of hockey you grew up with. I never saw NHL as a kid but always WC from swedish television.
Now kids are only an internetclick away from NHL....

Do you see this as a positive thing for the fans and young danish players in general?

 

[Justinov]

Do you see this as a positive thing for the fans and young danish players in general?

Dont know really....Danes in NHL hurt our WC chances....but if they get more to kids play our depth will increase over the years and thereby also make the national team better.
The problem is that WC and OG is what makes the TV exposure here. A succes is needed before more money flow this way to build rinks.
A dane winning Stanley Cup will not achieve that...a superstar maybe but that is not very likely to happen as it looks right now.

 

[BalticWarrior]

well i was looking at this from the perspective of a latvian fan,cause hockey is not going anywhere in this country,and i would really like for a league like khl to minimize nhl's dominance in world hockey

 

[Justinov]

well i was looking at this from the perspective of a latvian fan,cause hockey is not going anywhere in this country,and i would really like for a league like khl to minimize nhl's dominance in world hockey

yeah so long as they respect WC and OG. If they get all powerfull in Europe they could end up as NHL
But i dont really see either Finland or Sweden being interested in joining KHL....Germany and Switzerland are much more likely to follow Prague and Bratislava.

 

[BalticWarrior]

yeah so long as they respect WC and OG. If they get all powerfull in Europe they could end up as NHL
But i dont really see either Finland or Sweden being interested in joining KHL....Germany and Switzerland are much more likely to follow Prague and Bratislava.

Well,yes,but the goal of the khl is to get more european and less of russian entity,which is great.

 

[Justinov]

Well,yes,but the goal of the khl is to get more european and less of russian entity,which is great.

We need a SHL - Scandinavian Hockey league. The swedes and finns might like to beat each others clubs, and then you could throw in 1-2 danish and norwegian team in.

You could then have a central/eastern european league and then a russian (with Siberia) - then bring it together for a champions league play off.

 

[BalticWarrior]

We need a SHL - Scandinavian Hockey league. The swedes and finns might like to beat each others clubs, and then you could throw in 1-2 danish and norwegian team in.

You could then have a central/eastern european league and then a russian (with Siberia) - then bring it together for a champions league play off.

Idea is good on paper,but will swedish,finnish league federations have enough money and a will to commit to make this happen?

 

[Justinov]

Idea is good on paper,but will swedish,finnish league federations have enough money and a will to commit to make this happen?

I think if KHL is going to work you have to split it up into regional groups where the fans will ever bother to cheer. I can only think of Swedish fans bothering to win over finnish teams and vice versa than other clubs in europe. If you can't make a SHL, then they will stay having their own leagues I think.
Also to cut down travel expenses for the teams from smaller countries. If Norway and Denmark have to join it has to fairly short and cheap travel. Actually if Denmark joined a central european league it would actually be cheeper than going to North Sweden or Finland.
Would Latvian fans rather play russian teams or be in an central/eastern european playing like Czech, Slovak, German, Swiss etc teams???

 

[BalticWarrior]

I think if KHL is going to work you have to split it up into regional groups where the fans will ever bother to cheer. I can only think of Swedish fans bothering to win over finnish teams and vice versa than other clubs in europe. If you can't make a SHL, then they will stay having their own leagues I think.
Also to cut down travel expenses for the teams from smaller countries. If Norway and Denmark have to join it has to fairly short and cheap travel. Actually if Denmark joined a central european league it would actually be cheeper than going to North Sweden or Finland.
Would Latvian fans rather play russian teams or be in an central/eastern european playing like Czech, Slovak, German, Swiss etc teams???

So you basically want a regional divisions where the best teams play other bests regional division teams in play off,am i getting this right :d correct me if im wrong

 

[Justinov]

So you basically want a regional divisions where the best teams play other bests regional division teams in play off,am i getting this right :d correct me if im wrong

Yeah otherwise you wont get enough fans to cover team/rink-expenses and travel will also gets more expensive the longer it is.
So a regional split KHL where the best meet for a playoff is the most realistic.
Even if you split a western KHL will Europe/western part of Russia and a Sibirian KHL it will get to big and too vague for most fans.

 

[BalticWarrior]

Yeah otherwise you wont get enough fans to cover team/rink-expenses and travel will also gets more expensive the longer it is.
So a regional split KHL where the best meet for a playoff is the most realistic.
Even if you split a western KHL will Europe/western part of Russia and a Sibirian KHL it will get to big and too vague for most fans.

Thats an interesting idea,never looke at it this way

 

[Justinov]

and since this is a prospect thread...its important that they want to play in this league. If all the best goes to NA it will not really catch on....
If the best Latvians go to NHL instead of a burning desire to play for Dinamo Riga, then the team will never be a top team unless they buy their way to success - and competing with russian oligarchs will be pretty hard.

 

[wings5]

and since this is a prospect thread...its important that they want to play in this league. If all the best goes to NA it will not really catch on....
If the best Latvians go to NHL instead of a burning desire to play for Dinamo Riga, then the team will never be a top team unless they buy their way to success - and competing with russian oligarchs will be pretty hard.

And this is why depth is important, by increasing the amount of rinks and producing talented players you will see more players playing in various top leagues ( some in KHL, SEL, NHL ) and they will have more players to draw upon for selection in international events. Also then you may see a Danish or Latvian team in Euro hockey tours creating more interest and also if they become a mainstay at the top level they will host some more tournaments which will again in turn raise interest. Joining a Nordic league or big league like the KHL may be in the best interest to improve hockey in Denmark but things such as buildings of rinks are much more complicated.

 

[BalticWarrior]

and since this is a prospect thread...its important that they want to play in this league. If all the best goes to NA it will not really catch on....
If the best Latvians go to NHL instead of a burning desire to play for Dinamo Riga, then the team will never be a top team unless they buy their way to success - and competing with russian oligarchs will be pretty hard.

Its a fair point,but this would be long term project like 10-15 years from now,so ofc now the kids will flock to the best league with the best organization.