A lot of these European teams already have a number of players & access to their own pipeline of players. I'd be very surprised if they allowed more than one or two players per team from NA to join their teams. What would happen to a team who has 4 to 6 NA players on their roster than all of a sudden the NA leagues start up & the team loses 4 or 5 guys especially if they are in a playoff hunt? I think it's about developing their own prospects from their own countries at minor league levels but there might be some control at the pro levels as well.
I think we should also consider how their fans (gov) feel about foreign players coming over & taking jobs away from their players, not to mention how they would feel after they left mid-season & their team nose dives after they are gone. While it's great to see some up & coming NHL talent, how well do they know prospects outside their own countries? Having prospects from their countries who are on an NHL trajectory makes sense & would probably work out the best, but even then it would need to be controlled so as to not lose too many players at once. Is there a rule as to how many foreign players can play on a European team? Two players per team makes sense to me, isn't that the limit in the CHL as well?
