RW Pavel Rotenberg - Dynamo St. Petersburg, VHL (2018 undrafted)

[hockeydraftcentral]

One draft prospect to watch next year is Russia's Pavel Rotenberg. He will set the record for the wealthiest player ever drafted, because his father is a Russian oligarch. Yes, you read that right. It's hard to even imagine growing up this way.

Would a player like this ever really care much about the numbers on his contract? My guess is no. He would only play out of a love for the game, which is admirable.

However, if you talk to scouts, there is a general knock against players who grew up wealthy, let alone super-rich. The belief is that because they don't need the money and might have been pampered for much of their lives, they aren't prepared to make the necessary commitment to succeed at the NHL level. When your parents are capable of buying the whole team, why worry about your own status?

Hockey is an expensive sport to play, and it's no surprise that some very good players come from extremely comfortable backgrounds. I'm wondering which top NHL prospects, including sons of former NHL stars, grew up in the wealthiest families and how did they pan out after being drafted? I know there have been players like this (families with Canadian oil money, corporate CEOS, real-estate tycoons, etc.). Anyone have specific examples of either success or failure?

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[MaxV]

I don't know. It's true that some rich kids lack motivation, but just to be a prospect means he has spent countless hours working on his game.

 

[542365]

I mean...an easy one would be just about any legacy player. Max Domi, Matthew Tkachuk, Ryan MacInnis, Kieffer Bellows, Nylanders etc. Their parents weren't billionaires, but they were certainly well off and had access to training and coaching that very few others had access to outside of the insanely wealthy.

 

[GJB]

Mike Comrie's dad and brothers owned a furniture company called The Brick in Canada, they sold it for $700 million according to Wiki.

His dad's net worth estimated at over 400 million.

 

[M2Beezy]

Kerfoot guy that jersey drafted. His dad owns Vancouver

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Just because you're rich doesn't mean you're lazy... you definitely get your occasional Billy Madison's, most good players have a love for the game as hockey takes thousands of hours to get good at.

 

[kmad]

Mike Comrie's dad and brothers owned a furniture company called The Brick in Canada, they sold it for $700 million according to Wiki.

His dad's net worth estimated at over 400 million.

And Comrie was an entitled brat. Checks out.

 

[4thline]

Kerfoot, Colborne, Hyman, maybe not billionaires but affluence does not necessarily breed apathy

 

[Birko19]

Mike Comrie's dad and brothers owned a furniture company called The Brick in Canada, they sold it for $700 million according to Wiki.

His dad's net worth estimated at over 400 million.

If this is the prospect's father:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkady_Rotenberg

Then he's worth over a billion.

 

[tfong]

All the rich lazy untalented kids should've been flushed out by the time they hit AAA wouldn't they? Like it would show if they just simply weren't good enough to progress.

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

Brett Hull probably grew up with money, didnt Bobby Hull have the first 1 million contract?

 

[CodeE]

Snow once burned a 7th rounder taking Cody Rosen, an absolutely atrocious goaltending prospect with a rich father.

Two picks later, next goalie off the board? Frederik Andersen.

 

[Booba]

Brad Peltz (son of Wendy's CEO) and Cody Rosen were both drafted because their dads were filled with $$$

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/strange-long-draft-odds-cody-185458221.html

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=40883
http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=39660

 

[Bixby Snyder]

Brett Hull probably grew up with money, didnt Bobby Hull have the first 1 million contract?

Bobby had a contract that was worth a million but that was over several years. He didn't make anywhere close to what an average NHLer makes today. Plus Brett was mostly raised by his mother after the marriage fell apart.

 

[hockeydraftcentral]

All the rich lazy untalented kids should've been flushed out by the time they hit AAA wouldn't they? Like it would show if they just simply weren't good enough to progress.

I'm not asking about untalented kids. I'm talking about talented kids who fully deserve to be drafted but may not have the same motivation as their peers when it comes to taking the next step to to the NHL.

The Mike Comrie example is a good one. No question he had great talent. But if you gave his talent to someone who actually needed the money to help himself and other family members, would that other person have had a more productive (and therefore lucrative) career than Comrie had?

Brett Hull is not a good example of this. Yes, his dad got a big contract at one point, but it was nothing compared to this era. And because Bobby Hull was such a great player, Brett likely had the additional motivation of wanting to show he could live up to his last name. He certainly did that and then some.

 

[Kshahdoo]

He scored 10 points in 38 MHL games - not bad for 16 year old. There are way worse players on Russian U-18 team, who are a year older, than Pavel.

 

[Tim Vezina Thomas]

Joe Colborne was wealthy I think. If I remember correctly there was a lot of buzz around that when he was drafted.

 

[DANOZ28]

does he have to have body guards? how do his 16 yr old stats compare to kaprizov's or tarasenko's?

 

[MardyBum]

And Comrie was an entitled brat. Checks out.

Eric Comrie on the otherhand seems like a pretty great kid.

 

[tarheelhockey]

You don't want to stereotype people, but it's true that wealthy kids tend to have less "desperation" to get ahead. It's a matter of competitive psychology... if you know your future is secure regardless of how you perform, then you simply don't have the same level of built-in motivation as someone who's trying to avoid falling back into a much more difficult reality.

And, to some extent, excelling as a young hockey player in 2017 is not just a matter of being the most athletic and talented kid in town. Today's talent pipelines are very, very much a financial game that the families and leagues play in order to advance players to the highest level. The kid who can afford year-round private coaching, year-round travel teams, as many $250 sticks as he feels like breaking, and whatever nutritional supplements he needs, is going to have an inherent advantage over the more talented and athletic kid who can't afford a helmet that fits. So when you see a billionaire's kid show up on the radar, it's completely legitimate to ask whether he's there because of talent, or because of "parental support".

That being said, in today's NHL almost all the players are from relatively affluent families anyway. Prospect camps are largely rich kids competing with other rich kids. We're at the point now where the economic factor largely evens out anyway, because the middle and lower class prospects aren't even in the picture anymore. So the billionaire's kid likely has less and less of an inherent advantage as he moves up the ladder.

 

[cgf]

You don't want to stereotype people, but it's true that wealthy kids tend to have less "desperation" to get ahead. It's a matter of competitive psychology... if you know your future is secure regardless of how you perform, then you simply don't have the same level of built-in motivation as someone who's trying to avoid falling back into a much more difficult reality.

And, to some extent, excelling as a young hockey player in 2017 is not just a matter of being the most athletic and talented kid in town. Today's talent pipelines are very, very much a financial game that the families and leagues play in order to advance players to the highest level. The kid who can afford year-round private coaching, year-round travel teams, as many $250 sticks as he feels like breaking, and whatever nutritional supplements he needs, is going to have an inherent advantage over the more talented and athletic kid who can't afford a helmet that fits. So when you see a billionaire's kid show up on the radar, it's completely legitimate to ask whether he's there because of talent, or because of "parental support".

That being said, in today's NHL almost all the players are from relatively affluent families anyway. Prospect camps are largely rich kids competing with other rich kids. We're at the point now where the economic factor largely evens out anyway, because the middle and lower class prospects aren't even in the picture anymore. So the billionaire's kid likely has less and less of an inherent advantage as he moves up the ladder.

This. Hockey is already a sport for rich kids, so it doesn't much matter at the higher levels whether that kid's parents are worth 7 digits or 10.

 

[BoDacious Horvat]

If this is the prospect's father:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arkady_Rotenberg

Then he's worth over a billion.

His dad has been awarded the order of friendship, idk about you guys but I want him now lol

 

[hockeydraftcentral]

You don't want to stereotype people, but it's true that wealthy kids tend to have less "desperation" to get ahead. It's a matter of competitive psychology... if you know your future is secure regardless of how you perform, then you simply don't have the same level of built-in motivation as someone who's trying to avoid falling back into a much more difficult reality.

And, to some extent, excelling as a young hockey player in 2017 is not just a matter of being the most athletic and talented kid in town. Today's talent pipelines are very, very much a financial game that the families and leagues play in order to advance players to the highest level. The kid who can afford year-round private coaching, year-round travel teams, as many $250 sticks as he feels like breaking, and whatever nutritional supplements he needs, is going to have an inherent advantage over the more talented and athletic kid who can't afford a helmet that fits. So when you see a billionaire's kid show up on the radar, it's completely legitimate to ask whether he's there because of talent, or because of "parental support".

That being said, in today's NHL almost all the players are from relatively affluent families anyway. Prospect camps are largely rich kids competing with other rich kids. We're at the point now where the economic factor largely evens out anyway, because the middle and lower class prospects aren't even in the picture anymore. So the billionaire's kid likely has less and less of an inherent advantage as he moves up the ladder.

Excellent points across the board here. The affluence advantage is definitely a big factor in the U.S. Hopefully, it hasn't become this skewed in Canada, which has historically produced so many great players from families of modest or little means.

I don't think we've ever seen a billionaire's kid before who had an actual chance to play in the NHL. It will be interesting to see how this player's game develops in North America, where he will be surrounded by more players who had greater opportunities because of family assets.

Anybody talented enough to play in the NHL deserves to be there, but it's especially great to see the ones whose familes really had to sacrifice in order to get to that level. You know how much it means to them. On the flip side, I guess you could say that a wealthy player who makes it is no less admirable because he had to dismiss the easy ability to quit when things weren't going well for him.

 

[member 105785]

Dante Fabbro (Nashville 2016 first round pick)'s family is quite well off

 

[DANOZ28]

hey this could be the next steven segal movie storyline.