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Zoltan Poszar's Burner
- Feb 5, 2014
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And your point about 'leagues made for the development of NHLers' remains ridiculous. No league is 'made' to develop NHL players. The guys who make it that far determine their own fortunes.
C Auston Matthews - ZSC Lions, NLA (2016 Draft) II
- Thread starter JawandaPuck
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And your point about 'leagues made for the development of NHLers' remains ridiculous. No league is 'made' to develop NHL players. The guys who make it that far determine their own fortunes.
QnebO
Wheel, snipe, celly
- Feb 11, 2010
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This should boost his stocks in the draft if he does well. But it's risk, as NLA isn't as easy as best Junior Leagues. He'll face better team defense ect and some older guys with better developed strenght. In the other hand, he will still be drafted pretty high I guess, so this just might help him develop as a player. If he has already mastered the juniors, this way he avoids spending 1 year in waste there, and keep developing on bit higher level. I guess he ain't using any special vitamins. In europe players are tested (well I don't have exact info about NLA though).
How much he gets paid?
How much he gets paid?
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I've been to Zürich on vacation and I really wouldn't mind living there. Locals said the weather is usually rainy and that it was remarkable that there happened to be a stretch of two weeks of mostly sunshine, so maybe that colored my perception a little. There're lots of decently sized hills (1500-3000 ft.) close by for heavy-duty jogging practice. The overall cleanliness everywhere was something that I noticed, and how everything just worked. The low sample size of trains were all on time and the trams are super useful for moving around the city. There's ample choice of cheese and chocolates. Matthews is even getting paid to go there. I can't find any fault in this equation.
Nice to hear you liked Zürich
The weather is not so bad, it's not really rainy, but rather quite often cloudy. I think another plus for Zürich could be the fact that it is quite international. Around 50% of all inhabitants have a background of migration and there are many expats working for international companies. Hence, it might be easier to "adjust" and get along with the new and quite different culture in Switzerland.
I'm really excited that my team was able to sign Matthews and I'm looking forward to see him play in our colors.
BruinLVGA
Next: CZ SP-01 Tactical!
The key point here is playing in a MEN'S PRO league of good quality vs in a top JUNIOR league.
A European younger soccer player would benefit more from playing with men in the MLS rather than playing with his peers.
Yesterday there was an article in the press here about a young man from a top junior team in Italy (maybe AC Milan... I forget now) who made the jump and came to play in the top pro league here in Switzerland for Lugano. The dude said it was hard to adapt from playing top junior level in Italy to playing with men in the Swiss top pro league and his first target was to IMPROVE his play so that he could integrate much better. Exactly what you are talking about.
Well said.
Nothing is sure in life. No risk, no reward. I think it is better for Matthews to play PRO with MEN, rather than toying around with youngsters: that would not develop him one bit.
Also, if there's one thing that Switzerland does well is developing young hockey players. This is a known fact for whoever follows hockey not only in the NHL...
Well put. Factoring in adaptation to a pro league, playing with men, new country, large ice, etc etc, being 0.75 PPG would be fantastic.
It won't be a cakewalk, like had he stayed in juniors. This will be a good development experience, I think.
I subscribe to this philosophy.
mcpw
WPG
- Jan 13, 2015
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If you play in the CHL you risk your development because you can easily fall into bad habits, playing 32 minutes a night against 17yo 150lb scrubs who don't know how to play defense.
If you play in the NCAA you risk your development because you play a schedule of a 13F who gets scratched in 60% of the games, and you can't focus on hockey 24/7 as passing those freshman courses is really important for the time after your NHL career when you've earned $10M min.
If you play in the NLA/SHL/Liiga/KHL you risk your development because... you're playing on big ice? It's not a traditional development league, so you're not priority #1 for your coaching staff?
Why does the CHL exceptional status exists?
So the best prospects are able to play in a league with top competition. Top competition is good for development.
So why should Matthews play CHL? That's not top competition.
(yes, there is some hyperbole in this post)
If you play in the NCAA you risk your development because you play a schedule of a 13F who gets scratched in 60% of the games, and you can't focus on hockey 24/7 as passing those freshman courses is really important for the time after your NHL career when you've earned $10M min.
If you play in the NLA/SHL/Liiga/KHL you risk your development because... you're playing on big ice? It's not a traditional development league, so you're not priority #1 for your coaching staff?
Why does the CHL exceptional status exists?
So the best prospects are able to play in a league with top competition. Top competition is good for development.
So why should Matthews play CHL? That's not top competition.
(yes, there is some hyperbole in this post)
doug88
Registered User
Nice to hear you liked Zürich
I think another plus for Zürich could be the fact that it is quite international. Around 50% of all inhabitants have a background of migration and there are many expats working for international companies. Hence, it might be easier to "adjust" and get along with the new and quite different culture in Switzerland.
I'm really excited that my team was able to sign Matthews and I'm looking forward to see him play in our colors.
He's able to play in Switzerland because he chose Zurich and all of a sudden his working permit is all good. Had he chose a non-schwizerdutsch team he would never have been granted a such thing, but then the NLA works for Zurich so no wonder there.
totozenerd
Registered User
How many Servette fans does it take to change a lightbulb? 17, two to change it and fifteen to write an article about how if they were Swiss-German the light wouldn't've gone out!
doug88
Registered User
How many Servette fans does it take to change a lightbulb? 17, two to change it and fifteen to write an article about how if they were Swiss-German the light wouldn't've gone out!
Ya sure. As if you guys in the countryside liked swiss-germans..
Fonzieleaf
Registered User
I'm not sure if ZSC Lions is in the Spengler cup? If so that would be a great opportunity to see what he can do.
doug88
Registered User
So you don't believe there's such thing as a development league? I don't understand how anyone who follows prospects in any sport could have such a view. Junior/College leagues are designed to transition players from youth hockey to the pro game. They're the intermediate step where coaches are expected to understand the final stages of developing young players into pros. It's a system that's been set up that way for decades and has proven to be both logical and successful.
The NLA is a pro league unto itself that's not focussed on developing players for the NHL. It's a league for finished products that brings in experienced foreign vets who are expected to be major difference makers. Matthews has no pro experience and will be occupying an import spot with the expectation, particularly amongst fans, that he'll be worth that spot. For all of the people around here talking about there being "no pressure", I'm at a loss as to what they're thinking.
There's quite clearly a difference and I don't understand how anyone can try to refute the point. Matthews is entering unknown territory. If he's struggling part way through the year, what does he do? Go on a loan to an NLB team? Leave and head to the WHL? How would it all effect his confidence? There's no question this decision is a risk.
I blame all of this on the non-stop generational/exceptional/special player hype machine. Players are trying to sprint through their development rather than looking at their career as a marathon.
So in turn, do you think that all promising european prospects should also come over to NA and play in CHL, rather than their native finnish/swedish/etc. pro leagues? Would that help their development more? Are the NA-junior leagues a guarantee to success? If so, why so few europeans take it?
No, I think that the systems in place in Sweden, Russia or Finland for example have developed their own methods that work out optimally for the players in those countries. The governing bodies and fans in those countries don't want to see their players head over seas until they're mature pros and I understand and support their views. There's a logical progression in the systems there that allows players to avoid culture shock and shift between levels of play within the season depending upon what's best for them while managing expectations to a degree.
DudeWhereIsMakar
Bergevin sent me an offer sheet
Damn, what a goal! Really shows off his power, skating and hands.^ Courtesy of Huffman in the Lake Placid thread
bob27
Grzelcyk is a top pairing defenceman
- Apr 2, 2015
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It's already happened, nobody disapproves of it. Manchester City sent one of their prospects to play with NYCFC on loan. He's far enough in his development that he has nothing to show in the juniors, but isn't good enough to play in the top European leagues. He'll get big minutes against competition that is somewhere in between Premier league and European junior leagues. I suppose Matthews had similar thought process.
That's not the norm and likely has as much to do with the fact Manchester City has a stake in NYCFC as it does anything else. If it weren't for such a link I'm certain their first choice would be a lower division club in the UK or elsewhere in Europe.
A number of years back another Arizona born and raised hockey prospect, Henrik Samuelsson, went over to play pro in Sweden. He struggled terribly there and spent a lot of time in the Swedish junior league before heading back to North America and the WHL at the midway point of the season. He played much better from then on and was able to revive his draft stock to the point where he got drafted late in the first round.
Cagney,
Samuelsson and Matthews are a "little" different. Matthews needs a bigger challenge than the WHL and kudos to him for figuring out a viable option. Everything is risky, but I bet NHL teams are happy he is playing against men and not boys. If he struggles at first, that will just enhance his desire to get better and adjust to the pro game. I liken this to Tavares last year junior (08-09) where a higher level would have better prepared him for his first year in the NHL. How many times do we hear it every year where a prospect is too good for the CHL but not old enough to play anywhere else but the CHL if they don't crack an NHL roster? Matthews arguably would be in the NHL this year if born 2 days earlier and if not, he would have played in the AHL. It's a great move to play against men in a good pro league.
Ryker
Registered User
Well, you can't really tell, and it depends on his individual contract. Sure, a contract is usually built on a standard template, but I'm sure that this decision to go to Europe wasn't an easy one, so he and his agent must have discussed various scenarios. In view of that, I wouldn't be surprised if he has certain clauses in his contract that would allow for it to be dissolved under such otherwise nonstandard conditions. Given that the Lions will not depend on him as a top offensive weapon, it seems even more likely that he'd be granted such an out clause if he asked for it.
But without seeing the contract itself, anything anyone here says in regards to that is just pure speculation.
Spade
Resident Tool
I'm gonna be straight up honest, I don't think Matthews is putting up less than a 0.5 PPG pace. He's that good.
Marc Crawford seems excited enough that Matthews should get every opportunity to carve a spot for himself in the top 6 and on one of the PP units. And Matthews has the skill to score, especially in controlled situations like a 5-on-4 where he'd be an excellent pseudo-QB along the half-boards/faceoff dots with his vision and hands.
Even 10 points in say 40-ish games is pretty good in the NLA for a draft-eligible player, but that tends to happen because the young kids get stapled to the bench in favour of veteran players. Matthews would have to be the 13th forward with spot time on the powerplay to just barely top 2 digits.
If it does happen, I think he drops depending on the circumstances. If it comes out that he's a cancer (slim to none, and slim just left town) then yes he's a no-draft on just about every list. If it's just because he's not getting minutes, I think he stays in the 1st round. If it's because he's underperforming, I think that's where he slides in that mid-2nd range. He's got too much raw potential to slide further than that IMO, someone would take a chance and hope he'd rediscover his scoring touch.
The Swiss league has never had an 18 to 19 year old player of this caliber. Ever. It's hard to compare his production to other Swiss prospects because of the circumstances and the sheer difference in hype and talent. And it's a huge gap between Matthews and the best Swiss prospects of all time, considering he'd be going up against the likes of Nino Niederreiter, Sven Baertschi, Michel Riesen, Luca Cereda, Tim Ramholt, Roman Josi, Tim Bozon, and Mirco Mueller. No offense to those players, but Matthews is on another level as far as prospect hype goes (and half of them didn't even play in the Swiss league during their draft year, making it even harder to compare).
The best young Swiss players that stayed in Switzerland in the last few years number just a handful, and get very little ice time to prove themselves. It'd be hard to judge what he does because guys like Denis Malgin and Auguste Impose were fighting uphill battles just to remain in the top division.
His biggest adjustment is going to be things that he would have needed to do to stick in the NHL, so I can see his reasons for wanting to play in Switzerland. The wider ice makes it harder for him to get to the net off the boards with subpar skating, meaning he needs to improve his overall skating to be able to get quality chances. He also needs to be able to position himself better in all three zones, as the wider ice gives opposing players more space to make plays.
Both are skills he would have needed anyways in order to get minutes in the NHL. Not only does he get more practice time (due to easier travel schedules) but he's playing against better competition than he would have faced in juniors, and will get a fair shake at being an impact player on a championship contender. And Marc Crawford said somewhere about having at least 2 sessions a week of just pure skill development, which is better for Matthews in the long run than having to play a CHL schedule going across 4 provinces and 2 states.
Not saying the CHL is bad, but in this case he has solid justification for wanting to play in Europe. His case is very unique given his age/birthdate and skill level.
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