Level of players in these Olympics

[CapitalsCupReality]

What I find confusing is the people who say they'll refuse to watch Olympic mens hockey cause of the quality but watch the womens games just fine. All due respect to the women athletes, they would get killed by any of these mens teams. The Canadian womens team regularly competes against boys midget teams in lead up to competitions.

I don't refuse, I just haven't been compelled to watch even a minute of the Men's games so far. I would have rather they gone back to all amateurs instead of NHL 5th stringers, AHL and Euro allstars.

 

[CapitalsCupReality]

Maybe BBC people have watched this ad too many times.

OMG...still hilarious...

 

[Jablkon]

Sure, the talent level in the Olympics is "elite" on a global scale compared to Joe Schmoes.. The guys aren't scrubs. However, these Olympics suck. The mystique is completely gone. In America, there's practically no mainstream media or fan interest this year. I'm sure it's different in Europe, and probably Canada. Here, nobody has a clue or cares tbh. My issue is, I don't like how it's a mashup of the amateurs and pros who just happen to be eligible. Instead of taking the absolute best, even if only at amateur level (boxing), it's a mix and match of guys good enough to play who don't happen to be under contract with the NHL. The Olympics are supposed to be about premiere and elite competition, and this is anything but. I used to treat the Olympics as a bonus Stanley Cup Playoff, and watch every game I could. It was just awesome. Not this year though, I just can't get into it.

For me mystique is not there either. I mean its still Olympics but you just doubt whether you would go to parade.

 

[Merya]

With few exceptions, history has shown us that in the modern era the world's best players gravitate to north american teams.

They gravitate towards the money silly.

 

[Zenos]

Was that supposed to be clever? I don't think anyone was suggesting or implying otherwise.

 

[Signupnow]

I guess the reason for the Americans and Canadians are more affected by this is because euros probably do not aspire to become a 4th or 3rd liner in nhl when they can have a better role and similar pay back in Europe together with the fact that it's probably less hassle for nhl to employ Americans.. Hockey is a sport that has a pretty low skill cap as well so the difference between players in nhl and other leagues aren't as big as some may like to think.. Hockey is the rich mans sport only available in a few countries for a few families who can afford it so Sidney Crosby is a c level athlete. Its a reason sweden have only 1 soccer star but many nhl players. The point of me pointing this out is that there could be many more euros in nhl that could take lesaer roles and these are now available for us

 

[Xokkeu]

the USA Russia game last night was pretty brutal to watch. The US is just so bad it's a shame after the game we had in Sochi.

 

[Pez68]

Basically all players on the big teams are top AHL players. Zero AHL bottom six or bottom pairing players so this is a higher level for sure.

Lol. Not even close. The top AHL players can't play, because they are under NHL contract.... Because the best players in the AHL, are typically NHL prospects.... With the exception of a few career AHL guys.

Your average AHL team would smoke almost every other pro team not in the KHL. People really don't realize how good most of the kids in the AHL are. 95% of the best players in the world...play in North America.

 

[Hanji]

Lol. Not even close. The top AHL players can't play, because they are under NHL contract.... Because the best players in the AHL, are typically NHL prospects.... With the exception of a few career AHL guys.

Your average AHL team would smoke almost every other pro team not in the KHL. People really don't realize how good most of the kids in the AHL are. 95% of the best players in the world...play in North America.

No chance. The level of these olympics is far superior to the AHL, at least in regards to the ‘top 6’ teams.
Just look at this awful team USA as proof. A good portion of the European based guys were AHL all-stars and lit up the AHL before signing in Europe. As it pertains to the guys currently in AHL, Bourque is a perennial all-star, Butler is leading the Admirals in scoring (I watch him all the time), and their lack of talent is painfully evident at this higher level of play.

 

[Elvs]

Lol. Not even close. The top AHL players can't play, because they are under NHL contract.... Because the best players in the AHL, are typically NHL prospects.... With the exception of a few career AHL guys.

Your average AHL team would smoke almost every other pro team not in the KHL. People really don't realize how good most of the kids in the AHL are. 95% of the best players in the world...play in North America.

"Would smoke".. Holy exeggeration.

If you are gonna praise young AHL players, I hope you're not one of those who are calling these Olympic teams beer league level. Because then you would be contradicting yourself. Plenty of guys in this tournament used to be these great young AHL players you are talking about.

 

[NewUser293223]

if shl, khl, liiga, nla is bad, then all soccer leagues outside of pl, la liga and bundesliga sucks too....thats the logic some people use ...

only because nhl is better it does not mean the quality of top euro leagues is bad..

heck, in the 70s and 80s, cska moskva was better than any nhl-club...

Wasn't that CSKA team basically a Soviet national team?

 

[RageQuit77]

Wasn't that CSKA team basically a Soviet national team?

Basically yes as most guys in the roster of NT were CSKA players.

CSKA was in fact the division of The Red Army.

HC CSKA Moscow - Wikipedia

 

[chauron]

. People really don't realize how good most of the kids in the AHL are. 95% of the best players in the world...play in North America.

The best teams of KHL, swedish elit league, finnish elite league and swiss nla have better quality of play than AHL-teams

 

[WesMcCauley]

Andreas Martinsen from Norway is a good example. He isnt playing in the olympics because he is in the AHL atm but he has played around 120 NHL games the two previous seasons. He is 4th liner in the NHL but has some skills that can make him a decent NHL player (strength, hardhitting, good forechecker and solid around the net). If i was the GM of the norwegian team i would much rather have the Olimb brothers and Patrick Thoresen who all play in Europe, over Andreas Martinsen. They are much better players than Martinsen imo.
Thoresen was a twoway beast in the KHL in his prime, has been fantastic in international tournaments the last 10 years and could easily have been a middle 6 center in the NHL imo when he was in his prime. Thoresen finished 2nd in scoring in the 2012 WC with 18 points in 8 games and only Malkin scored more (19p in 10 games). Thats pretty incredible when you play for a very mediocre norwegian team. Olimb brothers has been great in international tournaments aswell.

 

[Jon Riley]

Totally agree, Martinsen is borderline national team material and the norwegian team lately is pretty bad...he wasn't even particularly good for the DEL standards..

 

[paragon]

If you had a time machine and transported any of the top teams to 70s, they would handily beat the Montreal Canadiens dynasty team.

 

[Matte99]

I don't refuse, I just haven't been compelled to watch even a minute of the Men's games so far. I would have rather they gone back to all amateurs instead of NHL 5th stringers, AHL and Euro allstars.

There are no amateur players in hockey anymore. Who would that be? 3rd-4th division in Sweden? Where do you find those amateur adults playing hockey at any level better than us writing on this board?

 

[Matte99]

I saw Klasen play in Milwaukee in the AHL. He has the skill to play in the NHL, but not the size or strength. He had some issues in AHL due to his size.

He could most likely play in the NHL today. If Fiala can play in the NHL he can. Klasen wasnt a good fit back in the days and neither was Omark but for different reasons. Omark didnt play much defense and was always a tad to slow. Klasen got the speed and his skills are such that most NHL teams still have to dig deep to find something similar in their lineups.

 

[DDRhockey]

Wjc was at a higher level

 

[Mestaruus]

Wjc was at a higher level

No way lol.

 

[Elvs]

Wjc was at a higher level

Yet Rasmus Dahlin is in the doghouse.

 

[DDRhockey]

Yet Rasmus Dahlin is in the doghouse.

18 year old tolvanen and heiskanen dominating veterans.

Dahlin hasnt had a chance to prove himself

 

[Pouchkine]

The level of play is high quality enough and most importantly it's nice hockey to see, not a dump and chase and trap typical nhl game. Good skaters and big ice certainly helps also it's nice to have games with momentum and not those stupid commercial breaks every 4-5min.

I enjoy the hockey and passion on display for sure.

 

[Jablkon]

Lol. Not even close. The top AHL players can't play, because they are under NHL contract.... Because the best players in the AHL, are typically NHL prospects.... With the exception of a few career AHL guys.

Your average AHL team would smoke almost every other pro team not in the KHL. People really don't realize how good most of the kids in the AHL are. 95% of the best players in the world...play in North America.

You dont follow it europe then. Sparta Prague lost 0:2 to New York Rangers several years ago. They were in quite a bad shape in that times and it was even before czechs started to do some changes in hockey. We would be probably smoked by NHL team but AHL team would have problem with any top czech team imo. Only for reasons that AHL teams dont have older guys who have experienced WHC, NHL etc. Agree that level of competitivness is higher in AHL.

95 percent of best players dont play in NA. AHL is rotation league. You get there, you leaving in three years. That does not mean you are worse than new guys who jump there. In fact any european guy with NHL potential who played against men before ussually has no problem to pick points there. But euro teams would have to heavily adapt to AHL style of playing. Rochester Americans played in Spengler some time ago and I dont remember they easily beat any team.

 

[Frank the Tank]

The level of play is high quality enough and most importantly it's nice hockey to see, not a dump and chase and trap typical nhl game. Good skaters and big ice certainly helps also it's nice to have games with momentum and not those stupid commercial breaks every 4-5min.

I enjoy the hockey and passion on display for sure.

European ice has a worse trap game when one of the teams wants to play a prevent defense. Canada's games in the Sochi 2014 tournament were a prime example of that. When the teams wanted to play hockey the games were entertaining (e.g., USA-Russia, Finland-Russia). Overall, Vancouver 2010 had the best quality games with elite skill and NA ice together.