Can Belarus catch up to Slovakia ?

[kudla]

We can look to NHL players: There are 4 wit secured place (Slafkovsky, Tatar, Fehervary, Cernak).

Nemec is still on the edge, but very close. Ok, ok, i will put him also to group 1.

Pospisil is questionable. Maybe he will cement his position this season. Maybe not

Thats it.

Then we have a group of young prospects, but they will need some time.

National Team? WCH is still a headache, nothing special from year 2012. Ok, bronze on OG 2022 is nice, but that is also a error in system.

Nation Junior Team? Last medal in 2015.

U18 National Team? Last 2 WCHs semifinals. But this is fishy. Look for all results on this tournaments.

Top Europe Leagues?
League the one who must not be named , there are 9 players.
Liiga? 0, maybe 1 if we count Elias.
SHL - 4, if we count Luka Radivojevic
Swiss League - 0
DEL - 0

Czech League is anomaly . There will be always many many Slovak players.

Overall, Slovak fans have not so much fun on big stage. We look forward to the future. But, We do this last 10 years year by year...

Sure, we have sucked big time for the past 12 years, but at that time we also hit our rock bottom. Or maybe it is right now. We now have 4-6 NHLers and I really doubt it is going to get worse, or even stay the same in the nearer future. Therefore I assume we must be trending upwards?

Denmark is the titanic of international hockey. Belarus I'd say is getting a bit better, but they will stay in their own tier. Namejs thinks that Latvia trends upwards too. I could agree with this to an extent, even though I think they will more or less just secure their current position. He says that they have more depth than before and also a bunch of incoming prospects. That quite literally is Slovakia's case too.

 

[Namejs]

What would be the explanation, or argument for this ?

Number of Slovak NHLers by season

• 1995-96: 10 Slovak players
• 1996-97: 11 Slovak players
• 1997-98: 12 Slovak players
• 1998-99: 12 Slovak players
• 1999-00: 11 Slovak players

• 2000-01: 11 Slovak players
• 2001-02: 10 Slovak players
• 2002-03: 10 Slovak players
• 2003-04: 11 Slovak players
• 2004-05: (NHL Lockout, no season)
• 2005-06: 10 Slovak players
• 2006-07: 12 Slovak players
• 2007-08: 11 Slovak players
• 2008-09: 13 Slovak players
• 2009-10: 12 Slovak players
• 2010-11: 12 Slovak players
• 2011-12: 10 Slovak players
• 2012-13: 9 Slovak players
• 2013-14: 8 Slovak players
• 2014-15: 8 Slovak players
• 2015-16: 9 Slovak players
• 2016-17: 8 Slovak players
• 2017-18: 7 Slovak players
• 2018-19: 9 Slovak players
• 2019-20: 7 Slovak players
• 2020-21: 6 Slovak players
• 2021-22: 6 Slovak players
• 2022-23: 6 Slovak players

 

[Namejs]

Sure, we have sucked big time for the past 12 years, but at that time we also hit our rock bottom. Or maybe it is right now. We now have 4-6 NHLers and I really doubt it is going to get worse, or even stay the same in the nearer future. Therefore I assume we must be trending upwards?

Denmark is the titanic of international hockey. Belarus I'd say is getting a bit better, but they will stay in their own tier. Namejs thinks that Latvia trends upwards too. I could agree with this to an extent, even though I think they will more or less just secure their current position. He says that they have more depth than before and also a bunch of incoming prospects. That quite literally is Slovakia's case too.

How does that work? You're trending upwards by trending downwards?

As much as I hate Belarus, they have improved significantly by allowing their prospects to move abroad at a younger age and they simply have a wider pool of players to choose from now.

That is a fundamental change that can potentially lead to long-term growth.

By this very simple logic, Belarus can close the gap with almost every team ranked higher. The question is by how much and at what rate are they going to keep progressing. Or not. I'm not very high on them. Realistically, they're going to be very close to Team Latvia, but likely without the coaching and the philosophy behind it that allows Latvia to remain competitive.

With teams like Belarus and Slovakia, you tend to have a lot of egos on the bench and a lot of players who think they are allowed to dangle around and play undisciplined hockey. It's a part of their culture. And when you have these 3rd liners who think they're a big deal because they play on some Russian KHL team, you're kind of destined to never match the talent level that you have on paper with your actual showing on ice.

And because of how much a single elite player is worth, Levshunov flopping would leave a major dent. Same for Slafkovsky, etc. So to an extent it also depends on pure luck, how are their prospects going to pan out or not.

As for Latvia, there's simply not that much room for growth. We could overtake Slovakia, but that's about it. There's no top 8 potential.

 

[kudla]

Number of Slovak NHLers by season

• 1995-96: 10 Slovak players
• 1996-97: 11 Slovak players
• 1997-98: 12 Slovak players
• 1998-99: 12 Slovak players
• 1999-00: 11 Slovak players
• 2000-01: 11 Slovak players
• 2001-02: 10 Slovak players
• 2002-03: 10 Slovak players
• 2003-04: 11 Slovak players
• 2004-05: (NHL Lockout, no season)
• 2005-06: 10 Slovak players
• 2006-07: 12 Slovak players
• 2007-08: 11 Slovak players
• 2008-09: 13 Slovak players
• 2009-10: 12 Slovak players
• 2010-11: 12 Slovak players
• 2011-12: 10 Slovak players
• 2012-13: 9 Slovak players
• 2013-14: 8 Slovak players
• 2014-15: 8 Slovak players
• 2015-16: 9 Slovak players
• 2016-17: 8 Slovak players
• 2017-18: 7 Slovak players
• 2018-19: 9 Slovak players
• 2019-20: 7 Slovak players
• 2020-21: 6 Slovak players
• 2021-22: 6 Slovak players
• 2022-23: 6 Slovak players

I dont get this, the numbers are completely wrong. There were 38 slovaks in 2003-2004 which makes things even worse. But yes the logic works,, even though you and I both know it is not gonna go lower than what is it now.