Switzerland: Swiss players in North America

[On Axis]

How has Reto Berra looked this season? I don't think the Blues own his rights anymore, but maybe the Blues still have interest in him.

 

[koh19]

How has Reto Berra looked this season? I don't think the Blues own his rights anymore, but maybe the Blues still have interest in him.

He's not doing too bad. He started the season in Davos with Genoni and Genoni became number 1 (they both started out with a two number 1 system). Berra then signed with Zoug but now he's back with Davos (I think it's only for the Spengler Cup though).

 

[swisshockey]

by the way, did you guys hear about Yannick Weber getting recalled by Montreal? He's supposed to dress for tomorrow night's game in Jersey (if anybody is in the area and wants to go, please shoot me a PM)

 

[koh19]

by the way, did you guys hear about Yannick Weber getting recalled by Montreal? He's supposed to dress for tomorrow night's game in Jersey (if anybody is in the area and wants to go, please shoot me a PM)

yep, hope he can make montreal's pp a bit more effective!

 

[Eagle Eye Cherry]

yep, hope he can make montreal's pp a bit more effective!

a la Mark Streit!

 

[torero]

today January 5th 2009, something happened for the FIRST TIME !
We have 2 swiss players leading the statistic list in goaltending AND in Defensmen in the NHL !!

Hiller with .933 (ex aequo) is leading the %save stat list.
and
Streit with 32 pts is leading the points stat list for Defensmen. (of course adjusting to the number of games ... but let's enjoy the picture !)

This never happened, some years ago we had 2 swiss leading the goaltending stats for a couple of days (weeks !) (Gerber and Aebischer). Today we have 2 leaders in different areas.

Let's take this as a good omen for swiss hockey 2009 !

 

[koh19]

Historic day for Swiss hockey! Zurich will go on to face Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the Champions league final!!!

 

[torero]

Historic day for Swiss hockey! Zurich will go on to face Metallurg Magnitogorsk in the Champions league final!!!

Yeahh ! i was surprised they showed it on TV and impressed by the Lions ... i admit i only watched 1st and 3rd period but Lions were superior ! it will be interesting on jan 21st and 28th against magnitogorsk.




PS : i was also surpised about the comment made by the commentator that, the evening preceeding this game, in his hotel in Helsinki, he watched on a finish TV a Swiss NLA game live !!
I understand that Finland may be a hockey country ... but wouldn't they watch at KHL or Swedish liga ? whatever it is pleasant to know that NLA has recognition abroad.

 

[koh19]

Yeahh ! i was surprised they showed it on TV and impressed by the Lions ... i admit i only watched 1st and 3rd period but Lions were superior ! it will be interesting on jan 21st and 28th against magnitogorsk.




PS : i was also surpised about the comment made by the commentator that, the evening preceeding this game, in his hotel in Helsinki, he watched on a finish TV a Swiss NLA game live !!
I understand that Finland may be a hockey country ... but wouldn't they watch at KHL or Swedish liga ? whatever it is pleasant to know that NLA has recognition abroad.

yup let's hope that swiss players will finally get the recognition they deserve from NHL/KHL/SEL/Finnish league/....

 

[stv11]

PS : i was also surpised about the comment made by the commentator that, the evening preceeding this game, in his hotel in Helsinki, he watched on a finish TV a Swiss NLA game live !!
I understand that Finland may be a hockey country ... but wouldn't they watch at KHL or Swedish liga ? whatever it is pleasant to know that NLA has recognition abroad.

I was surprised by that too. The game was Lugano-Rapperswil, so maybe they broadcast games from foreign leagues with finnish players and it happened to be an NLA game this time

 

[koh19]

Yay! Mark Streit is going to the All-Star game in Montreal!!!

I wonder if Jonas Hiller will get picked for the sophomores vs. rookies game. Sbisa is almost a sure pick.

 

[Ducksforcup]

Hiller has outplayed Giguere this season and is starting to get starts on a more regular basis.

 

[torero]

Hiller has outplayed Giguere this season and is starting to get starts on a more regular basis.

Stats between Guigere and Hiller :

........................................GP W L OTL ... GAA SV
Jean-Sebastien Giguere.........27 11 9 4 .... 2.99 .908
Jonas Hiller..........................20 10 7 1.... 2.10 .931

Hiller has been playing amazingly, while Guigere seems to be having a difficult begining of season with family complications. I believe their is no goalie controversy their, actually Guiguere is under contract until 2011. Possibly they will try to keep both goalies until then. (Hiller is under contract until 2010).
in 2011, if Hiller keeps playing the way he does, he will be wanting a higher salary ... and Guigere is hired for 7mio, + Hiller 1.3mio= 8.3mio. I do not imagine Ducks wanting to spend 10 mio or more on goalies !

Apparently Ducks have an exceptional goalie trainer ... François Allaire. This guy trained good goalies. He seems to be the key to Duck's goalies since many became 1st goalies after having left Ducks. So maybe Hiller will be leaving or exchanged if Ducks get a new good backup (because Guigere needs a solid backup). All i hope in such a case would be that Hiller doesn't end up in Canada. It definitely seems that playing under the canadian loup is not for swiss players ! (Aebischer and Gerber) who seem to be more disturbed by the public focus than motivated.

 

[torero]

by the way, did you guys hear about Yannick Weber getting recalled by Montreal? He's supposed to dress for tomorrow night's game in Jersey (if anybody is in the area and wants to go, please shoot me a PM)

Does someone know why he isn't playing ? because he was called but so far never played ! Habs' PP is simply awful. I felt he would be the first to play !

 

[koh19]

Does someone know why he isn't playing ? because he was called but so far never played ! Habs' PP is simply awful. I felt he would be the first to play !

He actually played against Toronto in Montreal's 6-2 win. I think he got around 15 min. in ice-time. Not bad at all.

 

[swisshockey]

He actually played against Toronto in Montreal's 6-2 win. I think he got around 15 min. in ice-time. Not bad at all.

Yup:
http://swisshockey.net/?p=160

Let's see if he plays tonight versus Washington...

 

[koh19]

word is that Sbisa might return to his junior team. With Brière coming back soon, the Flyers are gonna have to make a few moves in the roster.

 

[swisshockey]

word is that Sbisa might return to his junior team. With Brière coming back soon, the Flyers are gonna have to make a few moves in the roster.

I know. The Philadelphia Daily News has a nice summary of his situation. I think it would be bad to send him back now.

 

[torero]

Gerber's situation is worse and worse ! last time he was not even backup !

Hopefully he will recover ! and find a new team next season where he will play quitely and well ! i wish he will have a good finish ... maybe help Sens to make it for the playoffs and then leave the canadian loup for a better place ! (i cannot imagine him getting a starter position ... in the present situation ... yet a backup position ... !)

It really is a pitty because he is talented ...

Already 2 swiss goalies (Gerber + Aebischer) doing well, going to Canada and having this black hole ...

Go Gerber Go

 

[swisshockey]

Gerber's situation is worse and worse ! last time he was not even backup !

Hopefully he will recover ! and find a new team next season where he will play quitely and well ! i wish he will have a good finish ... maybe help Sens to make it for the playoffs and then leave the canadian loup for a better place ! (i cannot imagine him getting a starter position ... in the present situation ... yet a backup position ... !)

It really is a pitty because he is talented ...

Already 2 swiss goalies (Gerber + Aebischer) doing well, going to Canada and having this black hole ...

Go Gerber Go

Gerber's days in Ottawa appear to be numbered...

 

[jonas234567]

Do you really think he will be picked up?
I don't think so, I think he'll clear waivers and will be sent to Binghampton, where he probably doesn't want to play and will join a team in Europe. I don't think that he has a future in the NHL, he's already 34-year old and altough that is still no age for a goalkeeper no team will sign a struggling goalkeeper.

 

[swisshockey]

this just in: Yannick Weber was sent back to Hamilton.

 

[swisshockey]

Do you really think he will be picked up?
I don't think so, I think he'll clear waivers and will be sent to Binghampton, where he probably doesn't want to play and will join a team in Europe. I don't think that he has a future in the NHL, he's already 34-year old and altough that is still no age for a goalkeeper no team will sign a struggling goalkeeper.

you may be right. Also don't forget his price tag. I would love to see him join Mark Streit and the Islanders but that may only happen after he clears waivers, if at all.

 

[torero]

you may be right. Also don't forget his price tag. I would love to see him join Mark Streit and the Islanders but that may only happen after he clears waivers, if at all.

i was also nursing the same idea !!

And after all, their are some teams that have goaltenders issues (NYI + others) and Gerber's image is certainly not the one of a starter goalie but could be a backup in a decent team. i still would not be surprised that he be picked up by a team ... like Coyotes did with Aebischer ... Gretzky wasn't ready to pay huge sums for goalies so he just hired 3 goalies at cheap price ... to be disatisfied with 2 out of 3 and grab Brizgalov when he was waived. Curtis joseph also found a job after a good Spengler cup !

whatever .. we wish him all the best ... Go Gerber Go

 

[swisshockey]

i was also nursing the same idea !!

And after all, their are some teams that have goaltenders issues (NYI + others) and Gerber's image is certainly not the one of a starter goalie but could be a backup in a decent team. i still would not be surprised that he be picked up by a team ... like Coyotes did with Aebischer ... Gretzky wasn't ready to pay huge sums for goalies so he just hired 3 goalies at cheap price ... to be disatisfied with 2 out of 3 and grab Brizgalov when he was waived. Curtis joseph also found a job after a good Spengler cup !

whatever .. we wish him all the best ... Go Gerber Go

from everything I've read it seems the most likely scenario is Gerber is sent on a "conditioning stay" in Binghampton for two weeks. During that time they try to shop him. Will there be any takers? There is certainly a lot of suspect goaltending in the league right now, though again those teams may not want to pay something for Gerber (even a draft pick) if they can get him for free off the waiver wire.