Switzerland: Swiss players in North America

[swisdan]

Who is the Brunner's agent? Is it Rufener? The same as Niederreiter? I wonder if we can blame his agent instead Brunner for refusing Detroit offer. It is almost mid-august and we have no news -even not a rumour- where he will end up.

 

[jonas2244]

No, Brunner is represented by Neil Sheehy

https://twitter.com/ICEHockeyAgent

 

[torero]

I know that it is always easy to criticise afterwards.

But with the new NHL salary cap ... air becomes thiner as time passes.

I met a professional in Switzerland (Geneva) in april ... who was telling me that they would be waiting for foreigners and that probably their would be interesting free agents on the market in mid summer because of the consequences of the shrinked salary cap.

He wasn't wrong and maybe Sheehy should have had a word with him !? i imagined it would be an easy to forsee development for the specialists. But obviously some missed it.

Seing the Brunner side acting like they did, I was sure they had an offer on the table by another team to refuse or not to renegotiate with the Red Wings for a shorter period if salary offered was not sufficient.

++

Else Brunner should get another cheap year with any team and show/score/deliver ... consequently, the next year would see another discussion and he may get even more.

++

and 0-1 Suisse against Finland in the Hlinka tournament ! whoooo !

 

[torero]

So apparently we understand nothing of what is going on ... (at least me !)
And Capgeek indicates that their is plenty* of capital available in the 2nd part of the list and Sheehy (Brunner's agent) promised that Brunner would be playing in NA next year and that their where some teams interested in hiring him.

On the other hand, Servette still made a good acquisition recently ... so they are well on track according to the above mentioned forecast on which they built their masterplan to hire foreigners this year and many NHL players are leaving for the KHL : validating the shrinking cap hypothesis issued by pros.

All in all, infos and facts are conflicting ... We (i) are eager to see further development. Hoping for the best basically.



*plenty (the restrictive meaning) means enough to hire Brunner

 

[torero]

Interesting and very positive reading on Nino here

 

[torero]

Great reading on Simon Moser here

 

[torero]

interesting reading on Fabrice Herzog

 

[torero]

interesting and negative opinion on Swiss Hockey players in NA her under.

Guys, i want to share that i am depressed by our players in NHL overthere. Beyond the pond !!
Yes i a unhappy that :
-Brunner doesn't score more (and was sick)
-Weber is 2/3 of the games on the bench and 1/3 he plays some minutes (generally by far among the least in the team)
-Streit is so far in a veeery unsuccessfull team
-Josi is out
-Nino doesn't score more or assist more. (he still is playing pretty well ! he just isn't lucky so far)
-Sven Baertschi is also not really on top of his form.
-Sbisa is out
-Hiller ain't playing bad at all, but has two top goalies on his heels
-Diaz is not as successfull (scorevise) than last year.

About AHL, i guess that they aren't doing bad :
-Moser is happy and scored once in 4 games.
-Andrighetto just scored 2 goals and was 1st star of the game
-Meyer is often on the bench but has a decent %save.
-Berra is doing well
-Tanner also very OK

And in fact when i look at this same thread, when it started ... (only 5 years ago ... ) and now !
wow !
9 regular NHLers
4 regular AHLers
lost count of the young CHL guys ...

but WOW.

Who was saying that the future was dark at the time, and that their was no talent coming out ?

PS i am also depressed by Bern ... but that is another topic. (and for this i have people around me to whom i can complain)

 

[stv11]

Guys, i want to share that i am depressed by our players in NHL overthere. Beyond the pond !!
Yes i a unhappy that :
-Brunner doesn't score more (and was sick)
-Weber is 2/3 of the games on the bench and 1/3 he plays some minutes (generally by far among the least in the team)
-Streit is so far in a veeery unsuccessfull team
-Josi is out
-Nino doesn't score more or assist more. (he still is playing pretty well ! he just isn't lucky so far)
-Sven Baertschi is also not really on top of his form.
-Sbisa is out
-Hiller ain't playing bad at all, but has two top goalies on his heels
-Diaz is not as successfull (scorevise) than last year.

That's the "glass half empty" way of seeing things, which I wouldn't expect from you given that you're usually the optimistic guy here!

- Brunner scores at the same pace as last season, except New Jersey scores only 2 goals per game while Detroit scored 2.6 last season.

- Weber. Well, he simply is not an NHL caliber player. I'm sure he wouldn't even be one of the best NLA defenseman, I rank him behind guys like Von Gunten, Hirschi or Du Bois.

- It's nothing new for Streit to play for a bottom feeder, but even then he always managed to play well. Maybe it's just age catching up on him?

- I definitely don't agree about Niederreiter. He already got more points in 9 games with Minnesota than in his entire 63 games Islanders career, and he's trusted in an offensive role. That's a huge improvement.

- Bärtschi scores at the same pace as last season. You'd expect some improvement from such a young player, but on the other hand the sample size is pretty small (20 games last year compared to 9 this year).

- Hiller is doing well, as you mentionned. How good the other Ducks goalies are doesn't change that. At least he won't be overplayed like two seasons ago.

- Diaz doesn't score much, but he's established himself as a second pair defenseman on a so far succesful team. Beside, like in Bärtschi's case we're working on a small sample.

- Josi and Sbisa can hardly be blamed for their injuries.

 

[torero]

Sven Bartschi is going throug some rough waters ! pretty snakebiten !

After not being too successfull in NHL with the Flames this year, he was sent back to AHL, where he joined a winning team namely Abbotsford, who was leading its division. Well since he joined them, the straight lost to the last twice in a row and since stats are abismall for the whole team and he only scored 2 goals and 1 assit in 9 games. (last year 26 pts in 32 games, and with the flames 11 pts in 26 games !)

someone has an idea of what is going on with him ?

 

[torero]

Swissexpert : game Nashville - Ana

I agree with you. Moser was great. I regretfully had a bad stream on this game but, while i wasn't really convinced, his first game; thinking that he was floating with no cohesion with the others (which is also normal ... no training or practice ... ) and he was trying hard to chase all pucks, and triying to hit all what was moving ... i almost didn't see him win battles nor have impact on the game.

This game vs ANA was quite different ... with as you say aggressivity and positioning ... he could have had more assists. yes. Hopefully he stays in Nashville. They are in deer need of forwards who score ! But the NA way ... very conservative.

He was also playing with Sissions, a comrade of Milwaukee who is a "star" in AHL. Moser received more shifts, more ice time and more box play time. almost double.

Bary Trotz, Preds head coach made very positive comments on swiss players and on their attitudes. He enjoys them as a coach.

interesting reading

 

[swissexpert]

It's actually the first gmae I saw from him in the NHL, so maybe that's why I was so impressed. I thought of him more like a role player for a few shifts, didn't expect to see him on every 2nd goal chance
I also saw that with the lack of cohesion as you mentioned, but I really think it's a matter of time, he's new to the team, the linemates, the league. Firstly, he has to bring his work on the ice, if the coach likes what he sees and keeps him, he can go further to connect with his linemates.
I really hope he can keep his position there, that transition to the better League was amazingly fast I thought, but that wasn't his limit yet.

 

[torero]

It's actually the first gmae I saw from him in the NHL, so maybe that's why I was so impressed. I thought of him more like a role player for a few shifts, didn't expect to see him on every 2nd goal chance
I also saw that with the lack of cohesion as you mentioned, but I really think it's a matter of time, he's new to the team, the linemates, the league. Firstly, he has to bring his work on the ice, if the coach likes what he sees and keeps him, he can go further to connect with his linemates.
I really hope he can keep his position there, that transition to the better League was amazingly fast I thought, but that wasn't his limit yet.

Wait ! no misunderstanding ! he had a good game !! much better than the ones before. He was involved in more opportunities ... and made moves that opened onto opportunities. He created value.
(he only did it a couple of times in the previous games)
Then, the Preds are in serious need of efficient forwards !

A good olympic tournament should help opening doors. (their is this American conventional wisdom ! if you want to keep your job, and go against the conventional wisdom ... you better be right ! ... or you wont be forgiven), therefore a good tournament may open acceptance among the boards, giving more freedom to the coaches.

I hope he will make it. I am a bit concerned some players may be taken over him. ... Actually Josi had the same things, coming to an organisation that was stacked with many very good + promising defensmans. Today he is nber 2. logging sometimes more minutes than Weber.
But Josi is Josi.

 

[torero]

Amazing how most of our Swiss guys are benched for these playoffs.

Streit is holding his position quite well ... no points so far but a decent +/- record. Time per game is not at its highest.
Nino is holding his position ... yesterday he played 9 minutes ... among the lowest in the team
Hiller is nber2 ... after 2 stellar performances by Anderson, and 1 defeat. Probably he'll get a shot if in the next game, Anderson does badly again.
Diaz is benched.
Sbisa is benched.
Berra is benched.

The others are eliminated !

Any opinions of you guys about the standings ? and the playability of our guys ?

 

[torero]

Amazing how most of our Swiss guys are benched for these playoffs.

Streit is holding his position quite well ... no points so far but a decent +/- record. Time per game is not at its highest.
Nino is holding his position ... yesterday he played 9 minutes ... among the lowest in the team
Hiller is nber2 ... after 2 stellar performances by Anderson, and 1 defeat. Probably he'll get a shot if in the next game, Anderson does badly again.
Diaz is benched.
Sbisa is benched.
Berra is benched.

The others are eliminated !

Any opinions of you guys about the standings ? and the playability of our guys ?

Last game of the Ducks, (4th in the serie against Dallas), Sbisa was alligned and had an assist in their 6-2 win. He logged some 18 minutes game time a 0 +/-. I didn't see the game ... but obviously he is trusted by the coach.

hopefully Diaz gets a shot one of these days. Before too late would be nice !

 

[The Noot]

Last game of the Ducks, (4th in the serie against Dallas), Sbisa was alligned and had an assist in their 6-2 win. He logged some 18 minutes game time a 0 +/-. I didn't see the game ... but obviously he is trusted by the coach.

hopefully Diaz gets a shot one of these days. Before too late would be nice !

Not really. It took 2 defensemen injuries for Sbisa to get in the lineup. That's not exactly what I call "being trusted".

 

[torero]

Not really. It took 2 defensemen injuries for Sbisa to get in the lineup. That's not exactly what I call "being trusted".

I exagerated. To highlight what you said, Sbisa was "benched" against Dallas yesterday night.

Acutally Sbisa was benched exactly when Anderson was pulled out of the game, which opened the opportunity to Hiller,

Allowing me to say that Hiller may have a starting chance in the second round after he played well half of the game against Dallas.
I say "may have a chance" and not more because the big picture is that Hiller played like a king and Anderson, colapsed ... under the lack of experience ... . Yet the small infos is that Anderson was sick and said it to the coach who, in spite of that and the last shaky games, still relied on him. So the coach has confidence in Anderson. + Anderson has allways been good at home. And they will start with home ice, no matter who they will play ... so bets are open onto who will start in the ducks cage.

I still bet and hope on Hilsy !

 

[torero]

Damien Brunner

he scored 25 pts with NJD in 60 games and 24pts in 44 games with Detroit.

He was a bit streaky and sometimes injured ... NHL teams don't like that much these features ... and he finally never found his nest their.
All Swiss, we know that for him the key is to find his nest ... we saw him in-existent with Kloten and leading the scorers Swiss wide in the NLA.

i was wondering what future he would have in the NHL

If someone has an idea or read something ...rumours ... please share it. tks

 

[jonas2244]

He's another year under contract with the NJD.

 

[torero]

He's another year under contract with the NJD.

;-)

Lucky he is. Hopefully he makes something good out of it.

He had amazing goals ... and amazing absences .... lets hope the first outweighs the second this season.

tks

 

[torero]

Interesting article (small) on Diaz.

A Corsi valuation ... and a designation of good value !

He should find an employer ...

here

 

[Theokritos]

Old thread, but it deserves to be revived. Here we go.

 

[Theokritos]

Sven Bärtschi will attend the Vancouver Canucks training camp, scheduled to open July 10th.



"Bärtschi's agent, André Rufener, asked the Canucks to trade his client before the trade deadline back in February. Alas, nothing did come of it. The Swiss forward will now once again get a chance to make the roster of the Canucks, provided, of course, the NHL will move to the next phase of their "return to play"-plan."
(swisshockeynews.ch)

 

[Theokritos]

"The San Jose Sharks announced today that forward Timo Meier has been selected as the "Sharks Player of the Year" for 2019-20 in a vote by the Bay Area media. The award is presented to the player who contributes the greatest amount of success to the Sharks in the 2019-20 regular season. This is the first time Meier has been honored with this award."
(nhl.com)

Not quite sure many Sharks fans will agree with this pick.

 

[Theokritos]

Washington Capitals want to extend Jonas Siegenthaler.

"Jonas Siegenthaler's three-year contract with the Washington Capitals is expiring at the end of the current season, but the club's willingness to offer him a new deal gives the young defender some calm: "This gives me a certain security," the 23-year-old says."

(swisshockeynews.ch)