2016-17 Champions Hockey League

[torero]

I would be naive If I say the same about present CHL. Performance of swiss clubs in CHL is so far quite poor and it does not look you play with B teams. That would draw my attention. How can you be even certain that you are good enough when your teams are not succesfull in int. competition? Swedes and finns proved easily they are two best leagues in Europe. The rest should work hard ....

As discussed with you, they were not taking the CHL seriously so far, and changed their attitude this year.
and it shows !
So far 17 games 2 losses.
of the 6 Swiss teams, 5 are leading their group and 4 have lost no game thus far.

Day and Night compared to past years.

 

[torero]

Nah the whole list is false, even for the time.

Here is the list from last season:

http://x.cdn-expressen.se/images/2e/ee/2eee4d3f3d0345f4ad65d3791e03c4a1/[email protected]

Your list says "Spelarbugdet" meaning salaries ? ... EUR/SEK 0,13 ... some could be more or less in line ... but others are out of reality.
Strange is Lulea ... the highest on your list and the lowest on "mine" ... !
but we get the idea of how much these teams spend. Interesting.

In apparte, i use to be financial analyst ... and covered Swedish companies as well as Swiss by the way. Both countries have among the most free accounting standards ... allowing for a lot of creativity. So maybe these budgets are a reflection of that !

i use to call the Sw's countries ... Sweden, Switzerland and Swaziland.

This is why, i do not know if the list of Swiss teams is correct but the relative sizes are good and approximately the figures should be fine as well.

 

[lakers11]

Yea, those are player salaries each team has to spend. Luleå has the Minecraft billionaire sponsoring them so they went from their normal 38M budget to 46M last season

 

[Yabob]

It's worth mentioning that the numbers are educated guesses. Should be pretty accurate though.

I would say many (if not all) of the SHL teams have budgets around 100 million SEK or more. But that obviously covers a lot more than just the player saleries.

 

[Slimmy]

Outside of the SHL, I don't know enough to rank the teams within their own leagues. Anyone care to share their list?

As for the SHL, here's my attempt:

Frölunda
Skellefteå
Linköping
Växjö
Luleå
Färjestad
HV71
Djurgården

 

[Jablkon]

CZ:

Liberec
Sparta
Plzen
Vitkovice
Mlada Boleslav
Pardubice

Its only prediction as all the top teams ussually loose entire line in the end of the sesaon. Especially Liberec is significantly weaker on paper. But thats probably same everywhere.

 

[Slimmy]

CZ:

Liberec
Sparta
Plzen
Vitkovice
Mlada Boleslav
Pardubice

Its only prediction as all the top teams ussually loose entire line in the end of the sesaon. Especially Liberec is significantly weaker on paper. But thats probably same everywhere.

Sure. Frölunda lost 7 defenceman that had to be replaced for this season. But I also took into account the stability and health of the organisation as well as youth programs and results in the last couple of seasons. Current rosters play a big part in my assessment, of coarse. But it's very tough to give an accurate read on how the team will perform judging by roster alone. Not that my list is very scientific.

 

[torero]

The NLA would be like :

SC Bern
Zurich Lions
Zug
Davos
Lugano
Fribourg Gotteron

We have an equivalence in the first 4 teams ... anyone can be at the top ... this year i favor Bern and Zurich. The 5th, Lugano, could also be among them ... in a special year.
I can confidently put Fribourg ... at the end. Knowing that at the end, any team can beat any other team in NLA over 1 or 3 games.

And of course, you may have some other Swiss coming and saying that i understand nothing, know nothing ... and that it should be like ... !
My view is a reliable view ... still.

 

[Reznor]

I'm quite okay with your statement
Bern and Zurich are the top tier teams
Davos and Zoug are a tier bellow, but always competitive
Fribourg and Lugano are usually question marks. Both teams are inconsistent. Fribourg had a lot of roster changes this year, so it's hard to tell how they'll perform.

 

[lakers11]

Outside of the SHL, I don't know enough to rank the teams within their own leagues. Anyone care to share their list?

As for the SHL, here's my attempt:

Frölunda
Skellefteå
Linköping
Växjö
Luleå
Färjestad
HV71
Djurgården

Nah

Its more like

Frölunda
Växjö Lakers
SAIK
Linköping
Luleå
Färjestad
Djurgården
HV71

Växjö or Frölunda will most likely win the SHL. SAIK third best chance

Linköping is a dark horse.

 

[Slimmy]

Nah

Its more like

Frölunda
Växjö Lakers
SAIK
Linköping
Luleå
Färjestad
Djurgården
HV71

Växjö or Frölunda will most likely win the SHL. SAIK third best chance

Linköping is a dark horse.

I think any of the top four on the list could end up winning the SHL. I don't consider Linköping as a dark horse. If anyone, counting CHL participants only, Luleå is the dark horse.

 

[Slimmy]

What about our Finnish and German posters? Anyone care to chime in?

 

[scud9]

There is lots of questions marks on teams in FEL.

1. HIFK (depth on C and Backström)
2. Tappara (they have lost in 2 years all scoring wingers likes Palola, Jormakka, Kuusela and Laine)
3. Kärpät (new coach, over 15 players left)
4. JYP (D is thin and goalies have lot to prove)
5. Lukko (new coach, goalies inexperienced, penalty kill units)
6. Saipa (new coach, have lost best players again)
7. TPS (best players one year older, roster is thin -> injuries)
8. KalPa (won't make the playoffs)

 

[SoupyFIN]

There is lots of questions marks on teams in FEL.

1. HIFK (depth on C and Backström)
2. Tappara (they have lost in 2 years all scoring wingers likes Palola, Jormakka, Kuusela and Laine)
3. Kärpät (new coach, over 15 players left)
4. JYP (D is thin and goalies have lot to prove)
5. Lukko (new coach, goalies inexperienced, penalty kill units)
6. Saipa (new coach, have lost best players again)
7. TPS (best players one year older, roster is thin -> injuries)
8. KalPa (won't make the playoffs)

I'd add that it's important to note that teams 1-4 (no matter in what order everyone ranks them) are in a class of their own. The rest really depends on who you ask from, the middle pack (including non-CHL teams) is very even.

 

[Rigafan]

The UK EIHL is something like:

Sheffield
Nottingham
Belfast
Braehead
Cardiff
Fife
Coventry
Manchester
Dundee
Edinburgh

 

[Eidyia]

This talent cap issue is a given for any league. As soon as the player reaches a "NHL" level or "border NHL" level for a young player, he will head for North America ... We Swiss and i guess ALL leagues have this issue. I read that Swedes have something like almost 100 players abroad, Finns the figure was around 70 ... then came Czechs, Slovaks, Swiss, Danes ... with like 20 down to 12 . The difference is of great magnitude.

Countries that have natural ice in winter and where kids play Pond hockey will always be providing players worldwide. It is obviously a huge advantage. Their will never be a matching on that ... unless the planet cools down. With this goes the culture ... and culture translates into some places that are hockey producers ... isn't their a small town Ornskoldsvik in Sweden where, for a 30'000 population, an immense pool of players are coming out, like 15 or 20 huge players ... Forsberg, Sedin's and other alike monsters !!

Scandinavian countries will remain unmatched for some years you can be quite.

Finland was the whipping boy of hockey for decades. I mean we used to be happy when the Soviets, Czechoslovakians, Swedes and North Americans didn't beat us with double-digits.

It wasn't until the 90's while we started to win something and indoor rinks started to pop up all around the country and every young kid wanted to be the next Saku Koivu or Teemu Selänne.

The natural ice doesn't make a difference. None of our current best players started their career in some romantic scene on an icy lake. You need indoor arenas which wont happen unless there's an interest for the sport. Like Finland in the early 90's.

 

[Slimmy]

The UK EIHL is something like:

Sheffield
Nottingham
Belfast
Braehead
Cardiff
Fife
Coventry
Manchester
Dundee
Edinburgh

Belfast are that good are they? That's a bit of a surprise. But pretty cool. I expected Braehead
to be near the top.

 

[torero]

Finland was the whipping boy of hockey for decades. I mean we used to be happy when the Soviets, Czechoslovakians, Swedes and North Americans didn't beat us with double-digits.

It wasn't until the 90's while we started to win something and indoor rinks started to pop up all around the country and every young kid wanted to be the next Saku Koivu or Teemu Selänne.

The natural ice doesn't make a difference. None of our current best players started their career in some romantic scene on an icy lake. You need indoor arenas which wont happen unless there's an interest for the sport. Like Finland in the early 90's.

I do not remember this about Finns. I remember them being a strong nation, that would be behind the ones you mention ... but do not remember the double digit scores. It is true that today, i consider them as cup contenders unlike in the 90's. (olympic, iihf ... )
Finland ALWAYS had great players : jary Kury, Ruotsalainen ... name them !!

It is happy news for Switzerland what you say. And i grant you 50% truth. ;-)

In Switzerland, we have a nice development taking place. Hockey became quite popular these last years and many fathers, going to hockey games, want their kids to play hockey. And bring them to the local team. We see the first 19-20 yrs old kids coming out from this source. (city kids). Indoor rinks = organizations = development = results ....OK with you.
(Understand that in Swizerland .... we do not have ice in winter ! most of the regions are at or slightly above 0 on average ... unlike in the mountains ... where few people live !! most live in cities)

Pond hockey is important. Pond hockey means a culture of frozen environment ... which you find in the north. Not pure pond hockey, it is not saying that like in Brazil or Africa, were players start playing soccer in the street, in Canada, Russia and Scandinavian countries , they learn playing in the ponds. Yes and No ... yes because they naturally enjoy skating ... and hockey, and only trying, you will taste and decide to go to a team or not ... some will never have the opportunity to even try ... (more in the south).
And then the whole culture ... that goes with the cold. With local heroes and kids who want to become them and will feed their dreams with them.
Pond hockey and the culture going with it means Mass of players !

Mass of players + good organization = good nation.

Just for fun i share a link with you ... very interesting is the proportion of young players to old players ... . Interesting figures

HERE

 

[Jablkon]

Finland was the whipping boy of hockey for decades. I mean we used to be happy when the Soviets, Czechoslovakians, Swedes and North Americans didn't beat us with double-digits.

It wasn't until the 90's while we started to win something and indoor rinks started to pop up all around the country and every young kid wanted to be the next Saku Koivu or Teemu Selänne.

The natural ice doesn't make a difference. None of our current best players started their career in some romantic scene on an icy lake. You need indoor arenas which wont happen unless there's an interest for the sport. Like Finland in the early 90's.

It probably does not. But its generally shame that this sport disappear from streets/lakes because of that. There used to be really cold winters in CZ so it was a soccer during the summer and hockey during the winter. It has been not like this for basically more than 10 years. You can still go outside and play soccer almost wherever you want but you can barely collect money to rent hockey rink with friends when you are ten. Hockey is still popular but its a shame that it disappears as a normal activity for people....Instead of it people probably play floorball, I dont know....I mean who would play floorball, hockeyball or that weird hockey /I dont know how it is called but India or Pakistan are good in it/ when you can skate and have access to rinks?

 

[torero]

It probably does not. But its generally shame that this sport disappear from streets/lakes because of that. There used to be really cold winters in CZ so it was a soccer during the summer and hockey during the winter. It has been not like this for basically more than 10 years. You can still go outside and play soccer almost wherever you want but you can barely collect money to rent hockey rink with friends when you are ten. Hockey is still popular but its a shame that it disappears as a normal activity for people....Instead of it people probably play floorball, I dont know....I mean who would play floorball, hockeyball or that weird hockey /I dont know how it is called but India or Pakistan are good in it/ when you can skate and have access to rinks?

Land hockey ? interesting

if you look at these figures here
You can notice that the Czech Republic has 26551 registered hockey players that are less than 20 yrs old. and 79838 registered adult players. It is among the only countries that has less young players than old ones.

Would that correspond to what you say ? are young Czechs not playing or playing less than it use to be ? or are these figures due to other statistical discrepancies ?

 

[Urbanskog]

Land hockey ? interesting

if you look at these figures here
You can notice that the Czech Republic has 26551 registered hockey players that are less than 20 yrs old. and 79838 registered adult players. It is among the only countries that has less young players than old ones.

Would that correspond to what you say ? are young Czechs not playing or playing less than it use to be ? or are these figures due to other statistical discrepancies ?

The Czech participation numbers are flawed and even include people who have quit the sport.

 

[Zamboni Parade]

Mannheim
Munich
Wolfsburg
Berlin
Ingolstadt
Krefeld

Something like this. Just my personal opinion and some of the teams are quite close. You could probably sort them into three tiers of two teams each but if you then had each pair play a game the winner would be anyone's guess.

 

[kabidjan18]

In relation to the CHL it's
Salzburg
Vienna
Linz
Znojmo

but in relation to the EBEL it's

Salzburg
Villach
Vienna
Linz
Bozen
KAC
Znojmo
Graz
Innsbruck
Dornbirn
Fehervar
Laibach

 

[Hockeyfrilla]

Just tuned in, Skellefteå-Vienna 0-4 wtf?

 

[kabidjan18]

Salzburg really needs to get it's act together against HV71.

Vienna is doing pretty good they have one good line, two former SHLers in Holzapfel and Tessier. A sign of how the EBEL has improved, former top line Jonathan Ferland playing on the third line centered by none other than the 18 year old Junior Felix Maxa.