Too many Collegians, not enought Canadians?

[Dennis Bonvie]

The current Bruins roster has 4 Canadian players: Bergeron, Marchand, Debrusk and Heinen (who was also a college player). 12 American players who all played college except for Moore, who played Canadian Juniors. Chara and Krecji played juniors also, JFK played college hockey.

The point is, this is an unusual roster for an NHL team. Question is, is it by design? Or did it just happen to fall that way? Is this an early indicator of a trend for the NHL?

Of note, the most recent successful Bruins teams (2011 & 2013) were overwhelmingly Canadian. As are most Cup champions.

Anyone think this is an issue of concern for the franchise?

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[Gee Wally]

Nope. If they can play I’m ok if they come from Mars.

 

[4ORRBRUIN]

The current Bruins roster has 4 Canadian players: Bergeron, Marchand, Debrusk and Heinen (who was also a college player). 12 American players who all played college except for Moore, who played Canadian Juniors. Chara and Krecji played juniors also, JFK played college hockey.

The point is, this is an unusual roster for an NHL team. Question is, is it by design? Or did it just happen to fall that way? Is this an early indicator of a trend for the NHL?

Of note, the most recent successful Bruins teams (2011 & 2013) were overwhelmingly Canadian. As are most Cup champions.

Anyone think this is an issue of concern for the franchise?

Hate to brake the news but for better or worst this is no longer a 95% Canadian born players league. USA has arrived in big numbers and it will continue to get even more lopsided with all the Europeans coming each year.

 

[cheg1349]

Might wanna check out last year's Capitals roster

 

[PrisonMike]

Carlo played Canadian Juniors.... But no this is not an issue.

 

[BruinDust]

The current Bruins roster has 4 Canadian players: Bergeron, Marchand, Debrusk and Heinen (who was also a college player). 12 American players who all played college except for Moore, who played Canadian Juniors. Chara and Krecji played juniors also, JFK played college hockey.

The point is, this is an unusual roster for an NHL team. Question is, is it by design? Or did it just happen to fall that way? Is this an early indicator of a trend for the NHL?

Of note, the most recent successful Bruins teams (2011 & 2013) were overwhelmingly Canadian. As are most Cup champions.

Anyone think this is an issue of concern for the franchise?

No it's simply a case of

A) More Americans growing up playing the sport as it's growing across the country. USA is slowly catching Canada in terms of the number of kids enrolled. Canada has a bit more than 600k kids playing, USA is in the mid-500k.

B) Better develop at the grass-roots level through USA hockey

C) All which has translated to more kids coming out of the NCAA than ever before. Not to mention it seems like more Canadian kids and even other countries are looking at the NCAA as a viable option vs. the CHL.

I don't think there is a GM in the league that has the luxury of designing his roster to favor a certain country or certain development program at the expense of another. They want the best players, period.

 

[Colt.45Orr]

It is beyond a coincidence --so it becomes a concern --that there is a type of hockey family nepotism in our drafting.

 

[Fenway]

Nope. If they can play I’m ok if they come from Mars.

Place of birth is not the issue anymore - it is the development process. Major junior teams in Canada play a 68 game season and then the playoffs. NCAA teams play between 35 and 40.

I am not even going to attempt to say which system is better except that most NCAA players who turn pro earlier need at least a year in the AHL to understand the grind of the NHL.

 

[Gee Wally]

Currently Canada ‘down ‘ to 43%.
US up to 26%.

Where in the world do NHL players come from? - TheHockeyNews

Im too tired to look up Bs breakdown. Nor do I care.

 

[Alicat]

Carlo played Canadian Juniors.... But no this is not an issue.

Didnt realize he played Canadian Jrs

 

[DominicT]

USHL

 

[BruinDust]

It is beyond a coincidence --so it becomes a concern --that there is a type of hockey family nepotism in our drafting.

Where do you see this nepotism to under Sweeney?

The only player I see him drafting that had any NHL connection was Debrusk. And Louie had no Bruin connection.

Under Chiarelli it happened a fair bit later in his tenure:

Donato - Son of Ted

Fitzgerald - Son of Tom

Dempsey - Sweeney's nephew

Gryz - Father on the bull gang (I guess that counts)

Benning - Son of Brian, nephew of Jim

Didn't Chia also give his brother a scouting job with the Bruins. Seems like the nepotism stuff was more a Chiarelli thing.

 

[bob27]

Yeah, I don't think that Canadian passport gives you any superpowers. I believe Caps had 4-6 Canadians on their roster during their cup run, most notably Holtby and Wilson. Their top players are Russian (Ovy, Kuznetsov, Orlov), Swedish (Bäckström) and American (Carlson, Niskanen, Oshie).

 

[Alicat]

USHL

Thanks!

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Carlo played Canadian Juniors.... But no this is not an issue.

Thanks, my bad.

Should have known that.

Might wanna check out last year's Capitals roster

Their roster lists 12 Canadians and 7 Americans for last season.

This season only 7 Canadians. Trending?

 

[TCB]

Hockey like no other sport is a truly worldly sport that can be played at high levels by players from many different country's. No matter if they learn their trade through the College route or Juniors.

I know many times depending on the player a lot of teams prefer a player to take the college route, mainly because being drafted at such a young age they can take more time too build strength.

The problem with the bruins is they have too many of the same type of players and Sweeney hasn't addressed the issue, even though its been more than apparent.

 

[BruinDust]

Thanks, my bad.

Should have known that.


Their roster lists 12 Canadians and 7 Americans for last season.

This season only 7 Canadians. Trending?

Of the 19 skaters who played at least 3 games for the Caps in last years playoffs

Canada - 6

Russia - 4

USA - 4

Sweden - 2

Czech Rep. - 2

Denmark - 1

And most of their top players were not Canadian. Their best Canadian was Tom Wilson, followed by Brett Connolly.

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Of the 19 skaters who played at least 3 games for the Caps in last years playoffs

Canada - 6

Russia - 4

USA - 4

Sweden - 2

Czech Rep. - 2

Denmark - 1

And most of their top players were not Canadian. Their best Canadian was Tom Wilson, followed by Brett Connolly.

How about Holtby?

 

[northeastern]

College is getting more competitive. Nice

 

[Dennis Bonvie]

Hockey like no other sport is a truly worldly sport that can be played at high levels by players from many different country's. No matter if they learn their trade through the College route or Juniors.

I know many times depending on the player a lot of teams prefer a player to take the college route, mainly because being drafted at such a young age they can take more time too build strength.

The problem with the bruins is they have too many of the same type of players and Sweeney hasn't addressed the issue, even though its been more than apparent.

And aren't those mainly college players?

 

[BruinDust]

How about Holtby?

Goaltenders aren't relevant to the discussion IMO. Finland has roughly 70k minor hockey players, yet crank out goaltenders like a factory assembly line. I have no idea why that is.

If you can stop pucks, you can stop pucks, doesn't matter if they learn to stop pucks on a ice sheet in the middle of the Sahara desert.

 

[Gator Mike]

And aren't those mainly college players?

You think all college players are the same?

 

[Over the volcano]

It is beyond a coincidence --so it becomes a concern --that there is a type of hockey family nepotism in our drafting.

That has paid off pretty well

 

[finchster]

It doesn't matter where a player is from, but I certainly would prefer prospects focusing on hockey.

Not to derail the thread, but Ryan Donato has a lot of tools to be successful in hockey and any time you get a chance to go to Harvard, you need to take it. However, one can't deny going to an Ivy League school meant hockey wasn't going to be his only focus. I can't help but think if he went to a more athletics focused program or major jr, he would be ready now at the NHL level.

 

[Saxon Eric]

It doesn't matter where a player is from, but I certainly would prefer prospects focusing on hockey.

Not to derail the thread, but Ryan Donato has a lot of tools to be successful in hockey and any time you get a chance to go to Harvard, you need to take it. However, one can't deny going to an Ivy League school meant hockey wasn't going to be his only focus. I can't help but think if he went to a more athletics focused program or major jr, he would be ready now at the NHL level.

Yes just like Senyshyn