Talent level by league
- Thread starter saskriders
- Start date
I think this is the best list so far.
Though I would rank Elitserien slightly higher than SM-Liiga.
KHL
Elitserien
NLA/AHL/SM-Liiga
DEL/Allsvenskan
Those are, imo, the top leagues in Europe. Don't really know that much about VHL so I'm not going to rank them.
I'd say Elitserien is clearly (well maybe not that clearly, but still) the better league of the two, but SM-Liiga would be better than the other European leagues, on par with the AHL.
Like:
NHL
KHL
Elitserien
SM-Liiga/AHL
(Only a small gap here)
NLA
The rest...
Last edited by a moderator:
Lol at all northern Europeans ranking Czech Extraliga and Slovak Extraliga so low.
No disrespect but is the slovakian league really any good?
The Czech Extraliga deserves better credit than what they go so far in this thread though.
HC Bienne
@llopesso19
1. NHL
2. KHL
3. SEL
4. SM-LIGA/NLA/AHL
7. CZEECH EL/DEL
9. AUSTRIA/SLOVAK EXTRA LIGA/ Allsvenskan/VHL
13.ECHL/MESTIS/LNB(more stronger than french, dannish, Norwegian or italien league)
2. KHL
3. SEL
4. SM-LIGA/NLA/AHL
7. CZEECH EL/DEL
9. AUSTRIA/SLOVAK EXTRA LIGA/ Allsvenskan/VHL
13.ECHL/MESTIS/LNB(more stronger than french, dannish, Norwegian or italien league)
connor macdavid
Press Box Rat
North American Bias guys...we all suffer from it. THis is the DEFINITIVE list:
1) NHL - Still the league with the best coaching, facilities, and above all, players.
2) KHL (Russia) - Since its inception in 2008, the KHL has been steadily gaining on the NHL for the title of Best League in the World. While it's still quite a ways off the overall caliber of the NHL, teams like St. Petersburg and Chelyabinsk could probably compete with NHL-level competition. However, in contrast with those caliber teams, teams like Yekaterinburg and Chekhov, who are 10, 15 points in last place, really detract from the overall calibre of the league.
3) SEL (Sweden) - The Elitserien is still the best singular nation league (All teams in one country). When people try to convince me the American Hockey League is better than the SEL, I simply tell them to look at the elite players in the NHL, and of those players, how many were nurtured in the AHL, and how many were developed in the Elitserien. Pretty sure the talent per player ratio is higher in SEL-developed players than AHL-developed players. Also has a lot of draft-and-follows as well as signable prospects (Jakob Silfverberg, Robert Rosén, Richard Gynge).
4) AHL (North America) - While I had qualms about putting the league ahead of a few European circuits, it is still seen as the premier development league in the world in the eyes of many North American scouts.
5) SM Liiga (Finland) - Finland's top flight is pretty much tied with Germany's but I gave the SM Liiga the leg up on zee Deutsche because of the success of Finland's national team as opposed to Germany's, as well as the reduced number of imports in the Finnish league (better homegrown, developed players) and the number of Finns in the NHL (30, as opposed to Germany's 9).
6) DEL (Germany) - Still a great league with a lot of talent, just not the same domestic development as Finland, Sweden or Russia. A lot of over-the-hill North Americans (or career minor leaguers for that matter) can still stand out in this league, whereas they can't make a team in the SEL or KHL (i.e. John Tripp).
7) Extraliga (Czech Rep.) - Lots of NHL talent floating around in this league, most of it old and over-the-hill Czech guys. Very few high-end talented imports in this league.
8) NLA (Switzerland) - I love this league to bits and I love watching the Spengler Cup (Who doesn't?
) , but there just isn't a lot of high-end talent.
FULL LEAGUE LIST
1) NHL
2) KHL
3) Swedish
4) American
5) Finnish
6) German
7) Czech
8) Swiss
9) Slovak
10) Danish
11) English
12) Slovenian
13) Italian
14) French
15) Belgian
16) EVERYTHING ELSE (Portugal, Spain, Armenia, Iceland, etc...)
1) NHL - Still the league with the best coaching, facilities, and above all, players.
2) KHL (Russia) - Since its inception in 2008, the KHL has been steadily gaining on the NHL for the title of Best League in the World. While it's still quite a ways off the overall caliber of the NHL, teams like St. Petersburg and Chelyabinsk could probably compete with NHL-level competition. However, in contrast with those caliber teams, teams like Yekaterinburg and Chekhov, who are 10, 15 points in last place, really detract from the overall calibre of the league.
3) SEL (Sweden) - The Elitserien is still the best singular nation league (All teams in one country). When people try to convince me the American Hockey League is better than the SEL, I simply tell them to look at the elite players in the NHL, and of those players, how many were nurtured in the AHL, and how many were developed in the Elitserien. Pretty sure the talent per player ratio is higher in SEL-developed players than AHL-developed players. Also has a lot of draft-and-follows as well as signable prospects (Jakob Silfverberg, Robert Rosén, Richard Gynge).
4) AHL (North America) - While I had qualms about putting the league ahead of a few European circuits, it is still seen as the premier development league in the world in the eyes of many North American scouts.
5) SM Liiga (Finland) - Finland's top flight is pretty much tied with Germany's but I gave the SM Liiga the leg up on zee Deutsche because of the success of Finland's national team as opposed to Germany's, as well as the reduced number of imports in the Finnish league (better homegrown, developed players) and the number of Finns in the NHL (30, as opposed to Germany's 9).
6) DEL (Germany) - Still a great league with a lot of talent, just not the same domestic development as Finland, Sweden or Russia. A lot of over-the-hill North Americans (or career minor leaguers for that matter) can still stand out in this league, whereas they can't make a team in the SEL or KHL (i.e. John Tripp).
7) Extraliga (Czech Rep.) - Lots of NHL talent floating around in this league, most of it old and over-the-hill Czech guys. Very few high-end talented imports in this league.
8) NLA (Switzerland) - I love this league to bits and I love watching the Spengler Cup (Who doesn't?
) , but there just isn't a lot of high-end talent. FULL LEAGUE LIST
1) NHL
2) KHL
3) Swedish
4) American
5) Finnish
6) German
7) Czech
8) Swiss
9) Slovak
10) Danish
11) English
12) Slovenian
13) Italian
14) French
15) Belgian
16) EVERYTHING ELSE (Portugal, Spain, Armenia, Iceland, etc...)
Mathradio
Drive for 25
North American Bias guys...we all suffer from it. THis is the DEFINITIVE list:
1) NHL - Still the league with the best coaching, facilities, and above all, players.
2) KHL (Russia) - Since its inception in 2008, the KHL has been steadily gaining on the NHL for the title of Best League in the World. While it's still quite a ways off the overall caliber of the NHL, teams like St. Petersburg and Chelyabinsk could probably compete with NHL-level competition. However, in contrast with those caliber teams, teams like Yekaterinburg and Chekhov, who are 10, 15 points in last place, really detract from the overall calibre of the league.
3) SEL (Sweden) - The Elitserien is still the best singular nation league (All teams in one country). When people try to convince me the American Hockey League is better than the SEL, I simply tell them to look at the elite players in the NHL, and of those players, how many were nurtured in the AHL, and how many were developed in the Elitserien. Pretty sure the talent per player ratio is higher in SEL-developed players than AHL-developed players. Also has a lot of draft-and-follows as well as signable prospects (Jakob Silfverberg, Robert Rosén, Richard Gynge).
4) AHL (North America) - While I had qualms about putting the league ahead of a few European circuits, it is still seen as the premier development league in the world in the eyes of many North American scouts.
5) SM Liiga (Finland) - Finland's top flight is pretty much tied with Germany's but I gave the SM Liiga the leg up on zee Deutsche because of the success of Finland's national team as opposed to Germany's, as well as the reduced number of imports in the Finnish league (better homegrown, developed players) and the number of Finns in the NHL (30, as opposed to Germany's 9).
6) DEL (Germany) - Still a great league with a lot of talent, just not the same domestic development as Finland, Sweden or Russia. A lot of over-the-hill North Americans (or career minor leaguers for that matter) can still stand out in this league, whereas they can't make a team in the SEL or KHL (i.e. John Tripp).
7) Extraliga (Czech Rep.) - Lots of NHL talent floating around in this league, most of it old and over-the-hill Czech guys. Very few high-end talented imports in this league.
8) NLA (Switzerland) - I love this league to bits and I love watching the Spengler Cup (Who doesn't?
FULL LEAGUE LIST
1) NHL
2) KHL
3) Swedish
4) American
5) Finnish
6) German
7) Czech
8) Swiss
9) Slovak
10) Danish
11) English
12) Slovenian
13) Italian
14) French
15) Belgian
16) EVERYTHING ELSE (Portugal, Spain, Armenia, Iceland, etc...)
I have not seen many games of most of these leagues, so I'll stick to the ones I have seen.
The Swiss League NLA is definitely better than the DEL, although the gap seems smaller than a few years ago, and I think the Czech league might be as well, but I am not sure, because I have never seen a game of this league.
One league you forgot ist the Austrain league which should be better at least than some of the leagues you have ranked 11th - 15th
HC Bienne
@llopesso19
North American Bias guys...we all suffer from it. THis is the DEFINITIVE list:
1) NHL - Still the league with the best coaching, facilities, and above all, players.
2) KHL (Russia) - Since its inception in 2008, the KHL has been steadily gaining on the NHL for the title of Best League in the World. While it's still quite a ways off the overall caliber of the NHL, teams like St. Petersburg and Chelyabinsk could probably compete with NHL-level competition. However, in contrast with those caliber teams, teams like Yekaterinburg and Chekhov, who are 10, 15 points in last place, really detract from the overall calibre of the league.
3) SEL (Sweden) - The Elitserien is still the best singular nation league (All teams in one country). When people try to convince me the American Hockey League is better than the SEL, I simply tell them to look at the elite players in the NHL, and of those players, how many were nurtured in the AHL, and how many were developed in the Elitserien. Pretty sure the talent per player ratio is higher in SEL-developed players than AHL-developed players. Also has a lot of draft-and-follows as well as signable prospects (Jakob Silfverberg, Robert Rosén, Richard Gynge).
4) AHL (North America) - While I had qualms about putting the league ahead of a few European circuits, it is still seen as the premier development league in the world in the eyes of many North American scouts.
5) SM Liiga (Finland) - Finland's top flight is pretty much tied with Germany's but I gave the SM Liiga the leg up on zee Deutsche because of the success of Finland's national team as opposed to Germany's, as well as the reduced number of imports in the Finnish league (better homegrown, developed players) and the number of Finns in the NHL (30, as opposed to Germany's 9).
6) DEL (Germany) - Still a great league with a lot of talent, just not the same domestic development as Finland, Sweden or Russia. A lot of over-the-hill North Americans (or career minor leaguers for that matter) can still stand out in this league, whereas they can't make a team in the SEL or KHL (i.e. John Tripp).
7) Extraliga (Czech Rep.) - Lots of NHL talent floating around in this league, most of it old and over-the-hill Czech guys. Very few high-end talented imports in this league.
8) NLA (Switzerland) - I love this league to bits and I love watching the Spengler Cup (Who doesn't?
FULL LEAGUE LIST
1) NHL
2) KHL
3) Swedish
4) American
5) Finnish
6) German
7) Czech
8) Swiss
9) Slovak
10) Danish
11) English
12) Slovenian
13) Italian
14) French
15) Belgian
16) EVERYTHING ELSE (Portugal, Spain, Armenia, Iceland, etc...)
you have by far the best hockey on the planet. no argument in that. but you should't be aloud to talk about europeen hockey. that is a ridiculous list.
portugal? c'mon man. there are no ice rink hockey to play portugal.
Ro Herregraven
Dutch hockey nut
CanucksBen
Registered User
Latgale_fan
Registered User
1. NHL
2. KHL
3. Elitserien
4. SM Liiga
5. AHL
6. NLA
7. DEL
8. Czech
9. Allsvenskan
10. Slovak
11. VHL
12. EBEL
13. Mestis
14. Belarus
15. OHL, QMJHL, WHL
16. MHL, USHL
17. ECHL
18. France
19. Denmark
20. England
21. Italy
22. Kazakhstan
23. Norway
2. KHL
3. Elitserien
4. SM Liiga
5. AHL
6. NLA
7. DEL
8. Czech
9. Allsvenskan
10. Slovak
11. VHL
12. EBEL
13. Mestis
14. Belarus
15. OHL, QMJHL, WHL
16. MHL, USHL
17. ECHL
18. France
19. Denmark
20. England
21. Italy
22. Kazakhstan
23. Norway
Last edited:
IIHFjerseycollector
Registered User
joe89
#5
- Apr 30, 2009
- 20,315
- 177
I personally don't think the talent level in Elitserien is good enough to be put on a level above SM-Liiga, and I'd put AHL and maybe put NLA with them, too. Maybe if we include all the NHL prospects around, but most of them don't play significant roles in the league. It's the depth that makes Elitserien the second best league in Europe, not the top end talent.
NHL
KHL
Finnish SML/SEL
DEL/Swiss NLA
AHL
Czech extraliga /Allsvenskan
Slovak / Mestis
...
...
...
The list goes on.
I think the situation with Swedish Elitserien and the Finnish SM-Liiga has been quite even during the last few years. The top teams in Finland are slightly better than those in Sweden, but when you look at the whole league in general you can see that the teams in the Swedish league are much more even, while in Finland the worse teams can't really compete against the top teams.
Because of this I would say that the Elitserien is a little better than the SM-Liiga.
this is what I mean...
The second last team in the Elitserien this year was Djurgården, while in SM-Liiga it was HPK. I dare to say that Djurgården would easily be the winner of this match.
Then again top teams such as HIFK and Jokerit, maybe also Kalpa or Jyp could probably beat any team in the Elitserien. This is my opinion
The top teams are quite even in both leagues, with a slight advantage to the SM-Liiga, whereas the bottom teams are easily a lot stronger on the Swedish side.
*Yes I did consider the fact that Elitserien has 12 teams, while SM-Liiga has 14...
KHL
Finnish SML/SEL
DEL/Swiss NLA
AHL
Czech extraliga /Allsvenskan
Slovak / Mestis
...
...
...
The list goes on.
I think the situation with Swedish Elitserien and the Finnish SM-Liiga has been quite even during the last few years. The top teams in Finland are slightly better than those in Sweden, but when you look at the whole league in general you can see that the teams in the Swedish league are much more even, while in Finland the worse teams can't really compete against the top teams.
Because of this I would say that the Elitserien is a little better than the SM-Liiga.
this is what I mean...
The second last team in the Elitserien this year was Djurgården, while in SM-Liiga it was HPK. I dare to say that Djurgården would easily be the winner of this match.
Then again top teams such as HIFK and Jokerit, maybe also Kalpa or Jyp could probably beat any team in the Elitserien. This is my opinion
The top teams are quite even in both leagues, with a slight advantage to the SM-Liiga, whereas the bottom teams are easily a lot stronger on the Swedish side.
*Yes I did consider the fact that Elitserien has 12 teams, while SM-Liiga has 14...
It's interesting how the Allsvenskan is so much better than the Finnish Mestis, when the Elite leagues don't show that great of a difference at all.
This probably tells us something about Finland as a Hockey country.
It got to have to do with the following things:
Better talent development a number of years in Sweden than in Finland, especially depthwise.
A lot more importplayers in Sweden than in Finland (which raises the quality).
Teams in Allsvenskan have good income from sponsors, audience and tv-contracts, Mestis clubs don't have the same kind of budget.
14 teams in SM-liiga vs 12 in Elitserien, Sm-liiga clubs have bigger roosters than Elitserie ones (leads to more quality players in the second tier)
Loads of players have reached Elitserien from Allsvenskan which makes it a much more attractive league to play in than Mestis (that don't export the same amounts to SM-liiga).
Sm-liiga was closed for a while which rally hurt Mestis I imagine.
BTW I don't think Allsvenskan is as good as Czech extraliga at all.
Kiraly
Registered User
I imagine some of the Finnish players, especially the smaller ones, find the giant roosters somewhat intimidating and are much more tentative as a result. I'm sure this has a detrimental effect on the on-ice quality in the SM-Liiga.
1.NHL
2.KHL
3.SEL
4. SM-Liga/Czech ELH/AHL
5. Swiss NLA/DEL
6.Slovak ELH
7. EBEL
8. Italy/France
...
2.KHL
3.SEL
4. SM-Liga/Czech ELH/AHL
5. Swiss NLA/DEL
6.Slovak ELH
7. EBEL
8. Italy/France
...
North American Bias guys...we all suffer from it. THis is the DEFINITIVE list:
1) NHL - Still the league with the best coaching, facilities, and above all, players.
2) KHL (Russia) - Since its inception in 2008, the KHL has been steadily gaining on the NHL for the title of Best League in the World. While it's still quite a ways off the overall caliber of the NHL, teams like St. Petersburg and Chelyabinsk could probably compete with NHL-level competition. However, in contrast with those caliber teams, teams like Yekaterinburg and Chekhov, who are 10, 15 points in last place, really detract from the overall calibre of the league.
3) SEL (Sweden) - The Elitserien is still the best singular nation league (All teams in one country). When people try to convince me the American Hockey League is better than the SEL, I simply tell them to look at the elite players in the NHL, and of those players, how many were nurtured in the AHL, and how many were developed in the Elitserien. Pretty sure the talent per player ratio is higher in SEL-developed players than AHL-developed players. Also has a lot of draft-and-follows as well as signable prospects (Jakob Silfverberg, Robert Rosén, Richard Gynge).
4) AHL (North America) - While I had qualms about putting the league ahead of a few European circuits, it is still seen as the premier development league in the world in the eyes of many North American scouts.
5) SM Liiga (Finland) - Finland's top flight is pretty much tied with Germany's but I gave the SM Liiga the leg up on zee Deutsche because of the success of Finland's national team as opposed to Germany's, as well as the reduced number of imports in the Finnish league (better homegrown, developed players) and the number of Finns in the NHL (30, as opposed to Germany's 9).
6) DEL (Germany) - Still a great league with a lot of talent, just not the same domestic development as Finland, Sweden or Russia. A lot of over-the-hill North Americans (or career minor leaguers for that matter) can still stand out in this league, whereas they can't make a team in the SEL or KHL (i.e. John Tripp).
7) Extraliga (Czech Rep.) - Lots of NHL talent floating around in this league, most of it old and over-the-hill Czech guys. Very few high-end talented imports in this league.
8) NLA (Switzerland) - I love this league to bits and I love watching the Spengler Cup (Who doesn't?
FULL LEAGUE LIST
1) NHL
2) KHL
3) Swedish
4) American
5) Finnish
6) German
7) Czech
8) Swiss
9) Slovak
10) Danish
11) English
12) Slovenian
13) Italian
14) French
15) Belgian
16) EVERYTHING ELSE (Portugal, Spain, Armenia, Iceland, etc...)
Norway?
cutchemist42
Registered User
Ad
Latest posts
-
-
GDT: WCQF | GM5 | Vegas Golden Knights at Dallas Stars | 6:30PM CT | ESPN- Latest: Bruce Granville
-
OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: New season of plundering begins- Latest: GilbertSeinfeld
-
Upcoming events
-
-
-
-
Game 5 Los Angeles Kings @ Edmonton Oilers - Edmonton leads series 3-1Wagers: 17Staked: $81,382.00Event closes- Updated:
-
