MHL General Discussion - Part III

[ozo]

They aren't officially gone yet, but if that happens and the current ideology of MHL doesn't drastically change, then Energie is gone until Karlovy Vary gets a KHL franchise or put differently - gone forever.

 

[Urbanskog]

The Belarusian U18 team will join the MHL.
http://hockey.by/news/news-federation/6227.html

 

[cska78]

The Belarusian U18 team will join the MHL.
http://hockey.by/news/news-federation/6227.html

lol, crazy talk!

 

[wings5]

The Belarusian U18 team will join the MHL.
http://hockey.by/news/news-federation/6227.html

Can't see them doing that well.

 

[kp61c]

i don't care abot belarussian team, but russian one is gonna be intriguing. rubtsov, popugaev (small one), yakovenko, sergachev... that's a nice core to build a team around.

 

[cska78]

i don't care abot belarussian team, but russian one is gonna be intriguing. rubtsov, popugaev (small one), yakovenko, sergachev... that's a nice core to build a team around.

Zhukevno, Abramov, Sokolov gone to NA already, plenty names you have brought up will be there as well. I hope this team doesn't end up being run by agents and kick-back, but something is telling me it will...

 

[Yakushev72]

Zhukevno, Abramov, Sokolov gone to NA already, plenty names you have brought up will be there as well. I hope this team doesn't end up being run by agents and kick-back, but something is telling me it will...

I don't see how establishing a U18 team in the MHL affects who is going to NA - they're all going anyway. How can they resist the guaranteed Hollywood mansion with hundreds of beautiful female servants who their agents assure them are just waiting for them to cross the ocean? With a U18 team, the promising prospects who haven't already left - if such an animal exists - will be available for at least another year. Under the circumstances, I don't know we could hope for more than that!

 

[ozo]

lol, crazy talk!

The U18 NT (link) basically already played in MHLB last season, so this is just a logical step up. Every next Belarussian birthyear is a tiny bit better than the previous and with the slicing of the age of MHL, I easily see this team being at least competitive. As always I naively hope that this will help Belarus to keep more of their top talents jumping to Russia.

 

[malkinfan]

How do the club teams feel about losing their top U18 players to this national team?

 

[cska78]

How do the club teams feel about losing their top U18 players to this national team?

the teams that develop juniors are few and far between: CSKA, MVD, Loko....Majority of the teams are using overages.
Still think it's dumb idea.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

Still think it's dumb idea.

it really is and I hope it will last one year only

 

[Yakushev72]

it really is and I hope it will last one year only

There are at least 2 potential positives about an U18 team in the MHL: (1) Russia winning the World U18 tournament for a change, and (2) building a potential framework for the U20 tournament involving guys who have played together under the same system. How do the negatives outweigh the positives?

 

[cska78]

There are at least 2 potential positives about an U18 team in the MHL: (1) Russia winning the World U18 tournament for a change, and (2) building a potential framework for the U20 tournament involving guys who have played together under the same system. How do the negatives outweigh the positives?

neither one is really a positive:

the team of U18 players who will be playing in the MHL will NOT win jack and the fact, that they don't take players from NA is the major reason, but even then....

Same thing - best U20 will be playing in the CHL, so this MHL team will not be building much of anything.

 

[Yakushev72]

neither one is really a positive:

the team of U18 players who will be playing in the MHL will NOT win jack and the fact, that they don't take players from NA is the major reason, but even then....

Same thing - best U20 will be playing in the CHL, so this MHL team will not be building much of anything.

Since it seems as though the intent is to exclude guys who go to the CHL from both U18 and U20 national teams, you may be right that they won't win initially. But over time, I think the strategy will be effective.

 

[cska78]

Since it seems as though the intent is to exclude guys who go to the CHL from both U18 and U20 national teams, you may be right that they won't win initially. But over time, I think the strategy will be effective.

let's agree to disagree here:

This team will be another way for federation to garner kick-backs from agents and parents. Ivanyuzhenkov's of the world will most def be there. Let's see, once the roster is out.

 

[Killion]

Since it seems as though the intent is to exclude guys who go to the CHL from both U18 and U20 national teams, you may be right that they won't win initially. But over time, I think the strategy will be effective.

Not if once Drafted & kidnapped to God knows where in North America. How does that help the growth of hockey in Russia?

 

[ozo]

MHL in the end will allow 95's to play in MHL after all. I'm disappointed.

 

[kp61c]

let's agree to disagree here:

This team will be another way for federation to garner kick-backs from agents and parents. Ivanyuzhenkov's of the world will most def be there. Let's see, once the roster is out.

ouch, to forcefully make everybody play with blatnoi is a privilege of questionable value

 

[Yakushev72]

Not if once Drafted & kidnapped to God knows where in North America. How does that help the growth of hockey in Russia?

Exactly right! Maybe nothing can be done to stop it, as well as the corruption brought by Ivanyuzhenkov and others, but it will only prevent the growth of hockey in Russia. The MHL itself is a byproduct of the KHL, because the KHL needs to invest in the development of lots of good youth players to staff 30 teams or more with adequate hockey players. If the KHL continues to lose all of its investment in the best young prospects to NA, it will eventually have to cut off financial support to the MHL, and cut its own salary structure by 50% or more.

Since there is no local or regional government financial support for the MHL, there will be no more youth hockey league, and the KHL will be forced to shrink back to RSL levels of expenditure. At the international level, it will mean that Russia will have to learn to accept finishing no higher than 6th in the Olympics and similar tournaments, as it has every year since 2002, when the last of the Soviet-era players represented Russia in the Olympics.

 

[ozo]

Since there is no local or regional government financial support for the MHL, there will be no more youth hockey league, and the KHL will be forced to shrink back to RSL levels of expenditure. At the international level, it will mean that Russia will have to learn to accept finishing no higher than 6th in the Olympics and similar tournaments, as it has every year since 2002, when the last of the Soviet-era players represented Russia in the Olympics.

If RSL level leagues are so bad then how, for example, Sweden manages to be so competitive, when we know that the poorest KHL team would be the among, if not the richest team in SHL. Sweden not only have insane amount of players in NHL, they even manage to have hordes in KHL as well, and still have a highly respected local league. Money helps hockey, nobody is denying that, but Russia currently is trying to "build a house starting with the roof".

Aim should be to breed so many excellent players that NHL can't even take all of them.

 

[habsrule4eva3089]

If RSL level leagues are so bad then how, for example, Sweden manages to be so competitive, when we know that the poorest KHL team would be the among, if not the richest team in SHL. Sweden not only have insane amount of players in NHL, they even manage to have hordes in KHL as well, and still have a highly respected local league. Money helps hockey, nobody is denying that, but Russia currently is trying to "build a house starting with the roof".

Aim should be to breed so many excellent players that NHL can't even take all of them.

They don't have to try to take all of them, the players come to them, and that's something that will never change. As an athlete you want to compete with the best, not second fiddle. How can you reach your potential without playing in the NHL if your an elite Hockey player in this day in age.

And it doesn't help their cause World Juniors is always in Canada and players see the passion for Hockey is uncomparable to what's in Russia. They see their opponents and the skill and artistry and want to play with and against them as well, and guess where everyone goes?

 

[ozo]

They don't have to try to take all of them, the players come to them, and that's something that will never change. As an athlete you want to compete with the best, not second fiddle. How can you reach your potential without playing in the NHL if your an elite Hockey player in this day in age.

And it doesn't help their cause World Juniors is always in Canada and players see the passion for Hockey is uncomparable to what's in Russia. They see their opponents and the skill and artistry and want to play with and against them as well, and guess where everyone goes?

You totally missed the point of my post. You took one word and just ran in a completely different direction.

 

[Yakushev72]

If RSL level leagues are so bad then how, for example, Sweden manages to be so competitive, when we know that the poorest KHL team would be the among, if not the richest team in SHL. Sweden not only have insane amount of players in NHL, they even manage to have hordes in KHL as well, and still have a highly respected local league. Money helps hockey, nobody is denying that, but Russia currently is trying to "build a house starting with the roof".

Aim should be to breed so many excellent players that NHL can't even take all of them.

Sweden is competitive for 2nd or 3rd place because they have an extremely well-funded, and, as best I can find out, literally a neighborhood-level infrastructure that supports hockey far better than Russia. To catch up on that level, Russia would have to, at the very least, quadruple the annual per capita earnings of the average citizen. That might take some time! Also, the goal of Swedish hockey is to send its products to the NHL. They have no ambitions to build a competitive domestic league, although, as you say, not everyone can end up in the NHL, and so they end up with some pretty good players at home.

 

[Jussi]

Sweden is competitive for 2nd or 3rd place because they have an extremely well-funded, and, as best I can find out, literally a neighborhood-level infrastructure that supports hockey far better than Russia. To catch up on that level, Russia would have to, at the very least, quadruple the annual per capita earnings of the average citizen. That might take some time! Also, the goal of Swedish hockey is to send its products to the NHL. They have no ambitions to build a competitive domestic league, although, as you say, not everyone can end up in the NHL, and so they end up with some pretty good players at home.

Bullcrap. Sweden goal is to grow good players, it's up to the players own ambition and talent to decide what league they want to play in. They already have a competitive hockey league as evidenced by their clubs success in various European club competitions over the past 25 years. Hell, the CHL final was played between two Swedish clubs. The fact that they could easily have an almost 20 team league with more or less financially capable and competitive teams, says they are doing things just right. Also, I've said it before but you people really need to let go of this attitude that the palyers belong to some system or that they owe something to it by not doing what they, as individuals, think is best for their careers. Whether they succeed or not, it's still their choice, and we shoudl respect that.

 

[kp61c]

Sweden is competitive for 2nd or 3rd place because they have an extremely well-funded, and, as best I can find out, literally a neighborhood-level infrastructure that supports hockey far better than Russia. To catch up on that level, Russia would have to, at the very least, quadruple the annual per capita earnings of the average citizen. That might take some time! Also, the goal of Swedish hockey is to send its products to the NHL. They have no ambitions to build a competitive domestic league, although, as you say, not everyone can end up in the NHL, and so they end up with some pretty good players at home.

you could throw finns in there too, but it's not about ambitions. they are just too small to compete with the nhl. there's no self-delusion there, and that's good. i can't say the same for russia. while restrictions here are of different kind, the khl won't be competitive for a very long time. well, in one thing we are competitive for sure, that's throwing amoral money (gained by pumping natural resources abroad) at spotrsmen. but that's the foundation made from sand, it won't get us far