National Player Types

[Fallenity]

So essentially, do you think there are any national player types? That one country seems to produce more and better players of that single type then others?

Of course all countries produce all kinds of players, but are there majorities? Trends?

For example,

Finnish goaltenders

Slovak defenders (I'd give anything to have one of those in the Finnish WC team right now)

Czech skill attackers (puck control)

North American power forwards

Swedish coaches

Russian snipers

Or think of it this way, if there'd exist a global team with free pick on nationalities / players, from which country would you first look for players for certain roles?

Agree? Disagree?
Discuss!

Click to read more...

 

[begbeee]

I really dont think there is something like "Czech or Finnish goalie class". In example, if Slovaks had three TOP 30 defenders in NHL this year it is only a product of circumstances not the system targeted on developing mainly good defenders. Few years ago were Slovaks known mostly because of great forwards. Same with Czechs.. in late 90's/erly 2000's they had Hasek, Hnilicka, Cechmanek, Vokoun, Salficky etc. but now? Of course they have now still Vokoun, Pavelec and Neuvirth but it is not like they prefer developing goalies.

For me is more interesting why some players perform so well in national team. In example Miroslav Satan put together decent NHL career, but in national team he was and still is soooo clutch and extremly productive.

Similar type is Jiri Dopita, maybe Jorgen Jonsson etc...
That is more interesting question IMHO.

 

[llwyd]

Oh, there's absolutely an archetypal Finnish forward: a hardworking, fast skating, quite skillful and absolutely disciplined team player with a big heart whose only defect is that he can't score to save his life...

 

[Krotak]

I really dont think there is something like "Czech or Finnish goalie class". In example, if Slovaks had three TOP 30 defenders in NHL this year it is only a product of circumstances not the system targeted on developing mainly good defenders. Few years ago were Slovaks known mostly because of great forwards. Same with Czechs.. in late 90's/erly 2000's they had Hasek, Hnilicka, Cechmanek, Vokoun, Salficky etc. but now? Of course they have now still Vokoun, Pavelec and Neuvirth but it is not like they prefer developing goalies.

For me is more interesting why some players perform so well in national team. In example Miroslav Satan put together decent NHL career, but in national team he was and still is soooo clutch and extremly productive.

Similar type is Jiri Dopita, maybe Jorgen Jonsson etc...
That is more interesting question IMHO.

I'm not sure. Things changed also in Extraliga in last 5 years. There's a really higher number of defenders, we can consider as a leaders:
http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=824883

For sure, Slovakia still has got (or had) strong generation of forwards born in late 70's and early 80's and they are still better than youngsters. However as you can see, development of young defenders improved. At the moment it's strength in National team (as we had a chance to see at Olympics) and in Slovak Extraliga too.

 

[El_Loco_Avs]

Oh, there's absolutely an archetypal Finnish forward: a hardworking, fast skating, quite skillful and absolutely disciplined team player with a big heart whose only defect is that he can't score to save his life...

And we love them.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Swedish coaches

????

 

[Lugaid]

Haha, yeah the swedish coaches thing had me too. As much as it's an example, it's gonna look a bit funny to most swedes.

 

[Son of Krypton]

????

You know that guy who coached Finland in 1995.

 

[begbeee]

Curt Lindstrom, Kent Forsberg...

 

[Swipes]

Great idea for a thread. I think the czech national player type (forward-wise) is one who is skilled stickhandler, a great passer, but not such a great shot or physical player. Also, if the juniors are anything to go by, a poor skater too

 

[Lugaid]

Curt Lindstrom, Kent Forsberg...

Well, there's always the "What have you done for me lately?"-argument.

 

[WeberStreit]

Switzerland: Good defensive players (esp. Goalies), really weak in clutch situations and bad snipers.

 

[Fallenity]

Haha, yeah the swedish coaches thing had me too. As much as it's an example, it's gonna look a bit funny to most swedes.

Well, I admit as a Finn, Curt Lindström came into my mind when I gave that example (It's always ironic that it was a Swedish coach that lead us to our first and only gold medal), but in many ways I do think Swedish coaches always seem to get the most out of their players. Swedish teams seem to reach their potential much faster then others (which is critical in these short tournaments) and always improve their game quickly. While credit has to go to the players, I think it's the coaches that play the biggest role in this sort of development and getting the team to play together. This is also why I'm not ruling out Sweden as a competitor yet in this tournament, despite the horrendous start.

But I admit, coaching is a bit of murky waters for me, so I could be way off track.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Sweden: physical players, powerforwards, gritty play.

 

[MrGeno101]

Canada - Hard hitting game, score close to the goal, after 3-4 rebounds..

Sweden - team play team play

Russia - Individual skilled players with magic puck control

 

[Lugaid]

Well, I admit as a Finn, Curt Lindström came into my mind when I gave that example (It's always ironic that it was a Swedish coach that lead us to our first and only gold medal), but in many ways I do think Swedish coaches always seem to get the most out of their players. Swedish teams seem to reach their potential much faster then others (which is critical in these short tournaments) and always improve their game quickly. While credit has to go to the players, I think it's the coaches that play the biggest role in this sort of development and getting the team to play together. This is also why I'm not ruling out Sweden as a competitor yet in this tournament, despite the horrendous start.

But I admit, coaching is a bit of murky waters for me, so I could be way off track.

I think swedish teams are just generally quite tactically leaned, have good discipline and are team players. It also helps that the staff surrounding the national team has been the same for 15 years. You might have a point that swedish coaches are good in comparison, but I don't think it's the number one thing people would think about concerning a swedish architype. I'd say that the typical swedish player is a hard working team player who is good in both ends of the ice.

 

[RedBaronIndian]

I really dont think there is something like "Czech or Finnish goalie class". In example, if Slovaks had three TOP 30 defenders in NHL this year it is only a product of circumstances not the system targeted on developing mainly good defenders. Few years ago were Slovaks known mostly because of great forwards. Same with Czechs.. in late 90's/erly 2000's they had Hasek, Hnilicka, Cechmanek, Vokoun, Salficky etc. but now? Of course they have now still Vokoun, Pavelec and Neuvirth but it is not like they prefer developing goalies.

For me is more interesting why some players perform so well in national team. In example Miroslav Satan put together decent NHL career, but in national team he was and still is soooo clutch and extremly productive.

Similar type is Jiri Dopita, maybe Jorgen Jonsson etc...
That is more interesting question IMHO.

Pavol Demitra is a perfect example of this. Stud at the Olympics but a complete dud for Vancouver in the Chicago series, so much so that he couldn't get a NHL contract.

 

[fredrikstad]

For me is more interesting why some players perform so well in national team. In example Miroslav Satan put together decent NHL career, but in national team he was and still is soooo clutch and extremly productive.

Maybe he is better on the eurosize rinks?

 

[slovakiasnextone]

Pavol Demitra is a perfect example of this. Stud at the Olympics but a complete dud for Vancouver in the Chicago series, so much so that he couldn't get a NHL contract.

Hmm, not really if his first two WC games this year are anything to go by......it was probably more of an Olympics than NT thing with him last year.....

 

[Ziggyjoe21]

Russians are all dangles and sniping.

Swedes play a smart 2 way game.

Canadiens are less dangles, more power.

 

[Pentothal]

Sweden - Playmakers. A lot of both forwards and defensemen have good puck skills, vision and know how to thread a pass.

Wouldn't say we have great coaches. Especially compared to Canada and the US.

 

[thomast]

Sweden - Smart and good 2-way play.

 

[Fulcrum]

It depends what Era of hockey as well.

The Soviets could pass until the other team turns blue in the face. They could dangle as well.

Nowadays most Russian forwards are all shot and dangle, less passing, however you still ocassionaly seem them trying to make the perfect play with an extra pass, such as this WC.

I think for the most part, Canadians were seen as Gritty hard-working team that would score quiet a few garbage goals, get-in-your-face type of hockey.(apart from Gretzky and co. of course), however lately pretty much ALL of Canadians are very skilled and still 250 pound gorillas.

Here are some other steretypes, IMO:

Swedes: Good to great puckhandling, good skating, good shot, good to great Defense

Finns: Small, some dangles, not very clutch, good system defense but less body presence

Czechs: Smart players with good passing and stickhandling, skating is mediocre to good

USA: Great linear hockey- direct pass, dump to the slot and shoot, mediocre passing, fast but not shifty

All is very subjective ofcourse.

 

[nudpedler]

Finland: good goalies and plenty of good goalie/head coaches. That's about it.

Sweden: the most lucky ones

 

[Mirinho]

my point of view:

russians ... awesome stickhandling, but sometimes little bit selfish
usa ... younger smaller players with good speed and shot
canada ... power hockey with players who never give up
czech ... passing and spectacular combinations
sweden ... tacticaly best prepared players, so hockey inteligence and good coaching?
finland ... highspeed skating with some "smart dirty play"