What are the 5 best leagues?

[allsilverdreams]

NHL
AHL ?
KHL ?
?
?

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[Zman5778]

NHL, AHL, KHL, SEL, Liiga -- in some order. But I think it's pretty consensus that those are the top 5 right now, with the DEL maybe 6th

 

[thewookie1]

1. NHL
2. AHL
3. KHL (flips with AHL sometimes)
4. Swedish Hockey League
5. Probably Liiga

After that you have some more fluid rankings between the German, Swiss and Czech leagues

 

[HaNotsri]

Top teams are in KHL but the league is really uneven. It's pretty easy to put up points.

Top players are often in NLA.

Best floor/average team is SHL and the last three champions of CHL have been from SHL.

When it comes to AHL it's probably the closest to NHL in terms of style. You have some really good talent there as well. It's hard to compare since the play style is very different when it comes to SHL and AHL, most AHL guys seriously struggle with conditioning just like som SHL guys lack strength in AHL.

I've watched two AHL chsmpions a lot in the SHL preseason.
Nardella and Borgström from Hershey look ok in the SHL do far. Nardella is probably the 5th best defenceman on the team. Borgström is probably a 2C on most teams but easily a top 5 forward on his current team. Once he adjusts he could be really good in SHL but right now he lacks the speed needed and is carried by his wingers.

 

[ZemgusWho]

SHL is a solid 4. Liiga, Traditionally, but The gap between Liiga and the next tier is tighter than SHL and Liiga. (You can use that against me the next time I defend the Leinonen pick)

But lately Czech leagues have seemed stronger at times, same with Germany. It might just be a lull, but the Finns aren’t as obvious of a #5 as they felt five years ago.

I’d be curious where the second tier Russian league begins to fit in. Sometimes it seems like it’s better than the Swiss and German pros in a down year.

I should find those league conversion numbers. I know people smarter than me have crunched a ton of numbers on this topic and have more evidence than my guts and eye tests.

 

[Sabresbyswords104]

All leagues besides NHL is really pointless watching as there is the players who didnt make the NHL . Some players who could not even make a NHL team could be the best players in the SHL. So really low league compared to NHL

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

NHL / KHL / SHL / AHL / NLA

 

[JLewyB]

NHL
AHL
KHL
SHL
Sabres Prospect Team

 

[brian_griffin]

I'm partial to the now-defunct PLHL, Parking Lot Hockey League, which ran from 1996-2011 where I live. Started with ~40-min noon lunch-hour games in the back parking lot at work, evolved to Saturday mornings only, a full three 20min periods with a running clock, 150x50' so you ran a few miles and had noodle legs after. Had a few guys who played collegiate and Junior-B. As you'd expect, we had a ~2-ft tall amalgam of juice/pop/Gatorade bottles taped/glued together then aluminum-foil-wrapped to silver it up for the season-ending trophy.