The Panther
Registered User
I noticed that the late 70s' and (esp.) early 80s' Canucks had a lot of European players, especially for the period:
1978-79: Roland Eriksson (Swede -- only 35 games this one season)
1978-79: Lars Zetterström (Swede -- only 14 games this one season)
1978-1983: Lars Lindgren (Swede)
1978-1986: Thomas Gradin (Swede)
1980-1983: Ivan Boldirev (Yugoslav [Serbian])
1980-1986: Rick Lanz (Czech-born, but moved to Canada aged 6)
1981-1984: Lars Molin (Swede)
1981-1983: Ivan Hlinka (Czech)
1981-1983: Anders Eldebrink (Swede -- only 43 games over two seasons)
1981-1986: Jiří Bubla (Czech)
1982-1987: Patrik Sundström (Swede)
So, in 1982-83 alone, the Canucks had 9 European players on their roster in total. That must have been a record for that period!
What's the story behind that? Was Harry Neale really into recruiting Swedes / Czechs or something? How did it happen?
1978-79: Roland Eriksson (Swede -- only 35 games this one season)
1978-79: Lars Zetterström (Swede -- only 14 games this one season)
1978-1983: Lars Lindgren (Swede)
1978-1986: Thomas Gradin (Swede)
1980-1983: Ivan Boldirev (Yugoslav [Serbian])
1980-1986: Rick Lanz (Czech-born, but moved to Canada aged 6)
1981-1984: Lars Molin (Swede)
1981-1983: Ivan Hlinka (Czech)
1981-1983: Anders Eldebrink (Swede -- only 43 games over two seasons)
1981-1986: Jiří Bubla (Czech)
1982-1987: Patrik Sundström (Swede)
So, in 1982-83 alone, the Canucks had 9 European players on their roster in total. That must have been a record for that period!
What's the story behind that? Was Harry Neale really into recruiting Swedes / Czechs or something? How did it happen?