European Players - Good or Bad for the NHL?

I was going to ask a similar question, because I'd hitherto ignored or been unaware of the 'euro-hatred' one of the contributors referred to when talking about the Red Wings.

I'm from Europe, though not from a huge hockey nation - had to come here to discover it.

Do I think the european influence is good for the game? Yes, I do. However you look at it, hockey is tiny as compared to a lot of the so-called mainstream sports - somebody told me cagefighting is actually more popular in the USA than hockey, so it makes sense for the hockey nations to get together and cross pollinate. Plus, take out the Europeans, and you have a Really Small NHL!

I love the skill sets that european players bring in. I also admire their attitude. I waxed lyrical in another answer about how the Wings work as a team, as opposed to a group of exceptional individual players with a common objective. I want to know how they keep their egos out of it, because I think that's the key. Does it have to do with a different philosophy coming from Europe? I've read that Datsyuk had a hard time adapting to shooting as opposed to passing to a scorer because of Russian style hockey. As it happens, he has found the perfect fit with a puck possession team, and a perfect partner in Zetterberg.

If there really is this undercurrent, I hadn't been aware till now that it was an issue, and disturbingly one contributor thought it pervaded the reffing community too. The solution is in our own hands, to learn all we can with and from the European players to home grow the next generation of North American players, and the NHL should still embrace the best, wherever they are from.

They are great for the NHL. In the 1970s there were 30 professional teams in North America between the WHA and NHL and teams had a lot of problems finding great talent. In 1974-75, the two leagues used 1016 players, 925 of them of them Canadian.

This past year, the NHL used 941 players (852 skaters and 89 goaltenders) of which 489 players (52%) were Canadian (444 skaters and 45 goaltenders).

Which means that about 400 Canadians have been replaced by more highly skilled Europeans and Americans thus improving the game.

So, is the 490th best Canadian better than Ovechkin? Malkin? Lidstrom? Selanne? Forsberg? Nabokov? Kovalchuk? Stastny? Lundqvist? Lehtinen? Datsyuk? Kiprusoff? Sundin? Koivu? (shall I go on?)

I think the answer is a resounding no. I think the NHL has always strived to be the best hockey league in the world bar none, and I think that it is at a stage now where the very best players in the world are in it (Granted, there are some players who for whatever reason aren't like Alexei Morozov, Alexei Yashin, Oleg Tverdovsky (all of who could easily play in the NHL today) but that number is very small).

While there will always be a small minority who think otherwise (the Americans who ask why aren't there more Americans, the ones who ask why aren't there more coloured players, etc) the league will continue to operate on the best players principle. If the best players come from Norway in the future so be it...or India....or Australia.....or America.......the only thing a fan needs to worry about is the best product is put on the ice.

El M

The National Hockey League was at one time an ALL CANADIAN league formed in 1917 in CANADA (Montreal). The first American franchise took 7 years (Boston). So, where you got the idea it was formed in the US...............send that idea back - it's faulty!

c162484

The percentage of Non-Canadian Players who shoot left-handed is LOWER (62%) than the percentage of Canadians shooting left handed (71%)

You can do the sort yourself on NHL.com, Stats section, click on BIOS

The addition of European players has been good for the game. Some of the best players in the NHL have come from Europe. Hall of famers Jari Kuri and Viacheslav Fetisov both showed they had what it takes to excel in the NHL, the latter already was already a legend in his home country before coming over here to play. Dominik Hasek proved that a European goalie can lead a team to a championship. Nicklas Lidstrom not only proved that he play in the league, but can be a doninant presence on defense without being overly physical, and can when needed, take care of business on the attack.

Europeans are GREAT for the NHL. If not for the influx of talent from across the pond, the overall quality of the NHL product would be in the dumpster, particularly post-expansion.

If not for European talent coming in, 1/3rd of the league would be made up of guys currently in the minors.

The NHL needs Europe to be an elite league, no matter what Don Cherry says.

Euro's make the game more of a speed and skill game, which is good. Some time, though, it's nice to watch a good old fashion hard hitting affair. But LITY is right, they are the better players and should be playing in the worlds best league

Let's keep the NHL a North American sport. The language barrier alone should be enough to make the NHL a league of its own, without foreign participation. I don't look down upon the players, but let the Euros form their own leagues for everyone good enough to play there. We don't need to share everything we have with the whole world, do we?

i agree with the hartford guy.

i may support canadian hockey 100% and although i also support don cherry 100% i don't agree with his or other people's comments when they say that the nhl should be made up of mostly north americans. i know that limits the potential job oppertunities for canadian hockey players, but you know what i don't agree with a league like the nhl being exclusive and taking out the influence of european players on this game and what they bring to the table.

i personally can't think of the nhl/hockey and just think of the north american continent and take out europe. it doesn't work.

and although european hockey leagues are made up of mostly european born people, i think it's good that some of them allow foreigners to play over there, just like we do here in the pro league and even now in the minor system.

uhm to the el m lady...wow. the national hockey league implies USA. right? haha. well as example to what you're saying when i was really little i always thought the nhl should've been the northern hockey league, and i actually thought (cause i grew up on minor hockey here), that the nhl should be made up of all canadian players, and then as i grew up and the point lity makes about the 490th canadian player having more skill all sort of made sense to me. it also helps when you watch other hockey leagues and you begin to realize that the nhl as rich says should have the best hockey players despite their country of origin.

lol bill. haha. i was also thinking in response to her usa comment that i'm pretty sure that the nhl was founded in montreal, quebec, canada for those not in the know, and that hockey (on ice as most of us non field hockey people defer) was first played in canada.

i may not play more hockey than soccer, and think that the nhl needs to take the nba/mlb approach on promoting diversity in it's game, but i can play a real mean game of roller and street hockey.

i've been watching the redwings fan for as long as been a toronto maple leafs fan. 18+ years, mostly based on location proximity. so i basically grew up on the leafs, sens, habs, and redwings...and considering that i've only been alive for the 2nd reincarnation of the sens and leafs fans hate ottawa the redwings were always my third favourite team.

Good

They're great talent - and always have been. It's only been after the Soviet Union's collapse that we saw most of the surge of the imports.

Maybe one day there will be the NHL vs. Europe for the World Stanley Cup or something.

^^^^^^

El M - are you *trying* to get Canadians to stomp on you?

If you're going to subscribe to the idea that the NHL contains the best hockey players, then you have to include the best, wherever they come from. The talent level of the NHL would drop sharply if it was limited to North American players, simply because the larger the talent pool you pull from, the better players you will have.

They bring loads of skill and speed to the game. Probably more talented than north americans, and i like that. But i hate how soft they are, it annoys me how they fail to finish their checks a lot, afraid of taking the hit, or afraid of fighting. they need to bring more intesity, and then they will be perfect for the league

gentljohn- a lot of that is because of the instigator rule, not just euros