Europeans on the early-1980s' Vancouver Canucks

[The Panther]

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?

Click to read more...

 

[carjackmalone]

Per Olav Braser

 

[Albatros]

Probably many more jobs in the NHL through expansions plus a constantly weakening CAD had a lot to do with choosing that path. Their GM Jake Milford had also went to Europe himself as a player (as well as soldier) back in the day and could probably think hockey a bit more broadly than some others. Boldirev though grew up in Sault Ste. Marie.

 

[sr edler]

When I was a kid, Eldebrink was terrific on the national team. He had very good offensive instincts, but not sure how good he was defensively, you have to ask someone else about that. Perhaps his overall style or persona didn't translate seamlessly to NA hockey at the time.

 

[carjackmalone]

Petri Skriko was a fantastic player

 

[Staniowski]

I don't really know a whole lot about Vancouver management in the late '70s and early '80s, so I don't know. I know there were big rumors that Scotty Bowman was going to the Canucks in the summer of '77, and that's when Milford joined the team from LA.

Gradin, Eldebrink, and Sundstrom were really good players.

 

[The Panther]

Boldirev though grew up in Sault Ste. Marie.

I did not know that.

What's the deal with him? My impression from reading is that he was a really, really talented player but it seems like he only occasionally put it all together.

 

[carjackmalone]

I did not know that.

What's the deal with him? My impression from reading is that he was a really, really talented player but it seems like he only occasionally put it all together.

Gilbert Perrault light or poor man’s Perrault was what you got performance wise most of the time

 

[Sanf]

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?

Canucks was definitely team that believed that the answers could be found from Europe. Jake Milfords background is a good guess. I Believe Milford was actually man behind bringing young Juha Widing to NA in 60´s. He did himself some scouting trips.

But even before Milfords time Canucks had several players on their negotiation list (Labraaten, Löfquist, Hviid..) . Canucks offered 10 day tryout for Erich Kühnhackel in 74.

They actually even signed the former Jets Veli-Pekka Ketola in 78, but for various reasons he never went overseas then. They were heavily after Finnish duo Mikko Leinonen and Jukka Porvari in 1980. They sent their scout Babe Pratt to negotiate to get some Czechs...

The Star-Phoenix 20 May 1978
Pratt was trying to swing a deal with the Czech officials, whereby the Vancouver Canucks would get three of the Czech national team members for at least one year. Among the names mentioned were goaltender Jiri Holecek and winger Jiri Holik... Mike Buchna of Trail B.B revered as the father of Czechoslovakian hockey as the result of his coaching and playing stints there just before and after the Second World War, was working in Prague on Pratt´s behalf.

In late 70´s they had Frans Henrichs as European Scout. He was actually Dutch sport journalist. Stu Ostlund who was drafted by Canucks in 1976 and was some years with the organization was doing part time scouting in Finland when he spent year here playing. He was Skrikos teammate and the man who tipped Canucks about Skriko.

But after the scouting started to come slightly more professional in 80´s Canucks dropped out of the game. I believe they were one of the last teams to hire fulltime European Scout?

 

[kaiser matias]

They were also very active in courting the Soviet hockey authorities in the late 1980s, after drafting both Larionov and Krutov. They invited Tarasov for surgery, and had him sit in on some practices, and sent one of their coaches and a goalie (Troy Gamble) to Moscow for some training.

@Jim Genac has written on that here, and I believe he noted he met Tarasov at least once when the latter was in Vancouver then (I want to say 1987?).

 

[Gorskyontario]

I always thought highly of Thomas Gradin.

I thought Patrick Sundstrom was overrated, although I think he had an 8 point playoff game with the devils. Or something crazy like that.

My opinion on their two Swedish forwards who had nearly identical career stats.

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

Interestingly, a few years ago I started to author a post on a similar subject, but didn't follow through because of the amount of work it would have entailed, but starting with the Islanders in 1980, European players have been present in every Cup Finals, with both teams featuring at least one European player since 1981. Thinking about 1982 at the time, I wondered if there was a correlation between the number of European players on a team and its playoff success, particularly in that decade or so before the post-Soviet influx. The Canucks had 7 European players on their roster, 6 of which played in the playoffs, 5 in the Finals; the Isles had 4 Europeans, all of whom played in the Finals. The Nordiques had 4 Euros that year, as well, but dealt one before the end of the year, and no other team in the league had more than 3 Europeans. So in 1982, at least, the two teams with the most European players on their regular rosters met in the Finals. Coincidence? Did this trend continue? I didn't do further research, but there was always a notable Euro cohort in the Finals throughout the 80s.

I've always thought, too, that although the Canucks were at the time considered a big underdog Cinderella team punching way above their weight in making an inexplicably surprising run to the Final, that they are maybe somewhat underrated. Even before Neilson took the reigns and Brodeur's playoff heroics, the Canucks were already one of the best defensive teams and finished 5th overall defensively. When you take into account the fact that Hlinka, Eldebrink and Bubla were considered international stars (but were having adjustment issues), the Canucks had become - almost accidentally for that one season - one of the deepest teams in the league, just in time for the playoffs. None of the teams they crushed en route to the Finals losing only two games could match their depth beyond their top 4-5 players. The European factor gave the Canucks a serious depth boost, even when they were sitting in the press box.

 

[The Panther]

Thinking about 1982 at the time, I wondered if there was a correlation between the number of European players on a team and its playoff success, particularly in that decade or so before the post-Soviet influx. The Canucks had 7 European players on their roster, 6 of which played in the playoffs, 5 in the Finals; the Isles had 4 Europeans, all of whom played in the Finals. The Nordiques had 4 Euros that year, as well, but dealt one before the end of the year, and no other team in the league had more than 3 Europeans. So in 1982, at least, the two teams with the most European players on their regular rosters met in the Finals. Coincidence? Did this trend continue?

I don't know. But in 1982-83, there were even more Europeans on the Canucks' roster and they dropped two points in the standings and crashed-out in the first round of playoffs.

I mean, it makes sense that any franchise with more developed scouting / drafting focused on Europe as well as North America was going to be better managed in terms of player personnel.

 

[carjackmalone]

I always thought highly of Thomas Gradin.

I thought Patrick Sundstrom was overrated, although I think he had an 8 point playoff game with the devils. Or something crazy like that.

My opinion on their two Swedish forwards who had nearly identical career stats.

Had a 7 point game for the canucks vs Pittsburgh

 

[Boxscore]

The Canucks certainly had some very fun, entertaining, and quality Euros early on... Gradin, Skriko, and Sundstrom were among my favorites... especially Gradin. As to why they dipped heavily into the European talent pool, I'm not sure. Perhaps Milford was a bit ahead of his time and believed securing Euros were the best bang for the buck... or he felt the wave was coming. I have to admit, I was even intrigued when they landed Larionov and Krutov. Always wished Krutov had a better showing in the NHL.

 

[carjackmalone]

I’ll never forget the power of Hlinkas wrist shot in maple leaf gardens,he was between the red and blue line and Wristed a goal in the top corner

Haven’t seen anything like it since

 

[Staniowski]

Interestingly, a few years ago I started to author a post on a similar subject, but didn't follow through because of the amount of work it would have entailed, but starting with the Islanders in 1980, European players have been present in every Cup Finals, with both teams featuring at least one European player since 1981. Thinking about 1982 at the time, I wondered if there was a correlation between the number of European players on a team and its playoff success, particularly in that decade or so before the post-Soviet influx. The Canucks had 7 European players on their roster, 6 of which played in the playoffs, 5 in the Finals; the Isles had 4 Europeans, all of whom played in the Finals. The Nordiques had 4 Euros that year, as well, but dealt one before the end of the year, and no other team in the league had more than 3 Europeans. So in 1982, at least, the two teams with the most European players on their regular rosters met in the Finals. Coincidence? Did this trend continue? I didn't do further research, but there was always a notable Euro cohort in the Finals throughout the 80s.

I've always thought, too, that although the Canucks were at the time considered a big underdog Cinderella team punching way above their weight in making an inexplicably surprising run to the Final, that they are maybe somewhat underrated. Even before Neilson took the reigns and Brodeur's playoff heroics, the Canucks were already one of the best defensive teams and finished 5th overall defensively. When you take into account the fact that Hlinka, Eldebrink and Bubla were considered international stars (but were having adjustment issues), the Canucks had become - almost accidentally for that one season - one of the deepest teams in the league, just in time for the playoffs. None of the teams they crushed en route to the Finals losing only two games could match their depth beyond their top 4-5 players. The European factor gave the Canucks a serious depth boost, even when they were sitting in the press box.

Yeah, I've mentioned before that the late '70s and early '80s were a little tougher for European players, in general. It was still very much a Canadian style of game being played. But some of the better (more talented) teams were better fits for some of the players, like Persson, Jonsson, and Kallur on the Islanders; the guys on the Flames; of course Kurri had a great situation beside Gretzky. But it was tough for some of them, like Eldebrink.

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

I don't know. But in 1982-83, there were even more Europeans on the Canucks' roster and they dropped two points in the standings and crashed-out in the first round of playoffs.

I mean, it makes sense that any franchise with more developed scouting / drafting focused on Europe as well as North America was going to be better managed in terms of player personnel.

Yeah, man, not exactly what I'm saying, just noting that, in the 80s, the teams with Stanley Cup success generally had more Euros or higher quality Euro players than most other teams, and I'm betting that if someone wanted to do the count for every team for every year until the big boom in the 90s, I'm guessing that the teams in the Finals had either more or better Euros, or both, than most of the teams in the League. This is partially because of forward-thinking GMs like Torrey and Sather who had a good read on the trajectory of hockey at the time were able to draft or sign European players at a time when it was still unusual and put them in positions to succeed. It's not an exact thing, but interesting to note the correlation and the thread running through the Islanders (Persson, Kallur, Nystrom, Jonsson) and Oilers (Kurri, Tikkanen, Pouzar, Nilsson, Ruotsalanien, Lindstrom, etc) especially but also the Habs (Naslund, Svoboda) and Flyers (Lindbergh, Eklund, Sinisalo, Samuelsson, Dvorak) plus the Flames with Loob. Even the Stars in 81 had Kent-Erik Andersson. There were a few other teams that tapped Europeans year after year that didn't go all the way, and I'm guessing in a given year here or there the Leafs, Jets, Rangers or Nordiques may have had as many or more Europeans or higher quality Europeans than some of the teams mentioned above, but there were a lot of teams in that era that had few Europeans (some going for years at a time without a Euro on the roster) or lower quality Europeans during that decade.

The WHA merger, the lowering of the draft age and the increase in roster size saw the game speed up considerably, and most of the European players coming over during this time period were above average skaters, which Torrey and Sather particularly leveraged to their advantage.

 

[Boxscore]

Yeah, man, not exactly what I'm saying, just noting that, in the 80s, the teams with Stanley Cup success generally had more Euros or higher quality Euro players than most other teams, and I'm betting that if someone wanted to do the count for every team for every year until the big boom in the 90s, I'm guessing that the teams in the Finals had either more or better Euros, or both, than most of the teams in the League. This is partially because of forward-thinking GMs like Torrey and Sather who had a good read on the trajectory of hockey at the time were able to draft or sign European players at a time when it was still unusual and put them in positions to succeed. It's not an exact thing, but interesting to note the correlation and the thread running through the Islanders (Persson, Kallur, Nystrom, Jonsson) and Oilers (Kurri, Tikkanen, Pouzar, Nilsson, Ruotsalanien, Lindstrom, etc) especially but also the Habs (Naslund, Svoboda) and Flyers (Lindbergh, Eklund, Sinisalo, Samuelsson, Dvorak) plus the Flames with Loob. Even the Stars in 81 had Kent-Erik Andersson. There were a few other teams that tapped Europeans year after year that didn't go all the way, and I'm guessing in a given year here or there the Leafs, Jets, Rangers or Nordiques may have had as many or more Europeans or higher quality Europeans than some of the teams mentioned above, but there were a lot of teams in that era that had few Europeans (some going for years at a time without a Euro on the roster) or lower quality Europeans during that decade.

The WHA merger, the lowering of the draft age and the increase in roster size saw the game speed up considerably, and most of the European players coming over during this time period were above average skaters, which Torrey and Sather particularly leveraged to their advantage.

Great post.

The Flyers also had Thomas Eriksson and they made a major play for the Stastny brothers before they opted for Quebec, led by Peter who felt the Flyers were so deep that the brothers would fail to get adequate ice time to prove their worth before being jettisoned back to Czechoslovakia.

As for the Stastnys, Marcel Aubut knew darn well dipping into the Euro pool was the only way the Nordiques could gain respectability fast. I couldn't imagine Quebec without the Stastnys.

 

[VanIslander]

Thomas Gradin was tough as nails and incredibly well balanced.

He went through every check like butter.

We used to try and do what he did, and we landed on our ***.

I miss this BCTV news crew:

 

[The Panther]

Yeah, man, not exactly what I'm saying, just noting that, in the 80s, the teams with Stanley Cup success generally had more Euros or higher quality Euro players than most other teams, and I'm betting that if someone wanted to do the count for every team for every year until the big boom in the 90s, I'm guessing that the teams in the Finals had either more or better Euros, or both, than most of the teams in the League. This is partially because of forward-thinking GMs like Torrey and Sather who had a good read on the trajectory of hockey at the time were able to draft or sign European players at a time when it was still unusual and put them in positions to succeed. It's not an exact thing, but interesting to note the correlation and the thread running through the Islanders (Persson, Kallur, Nystrom, Jonsson) and Oilers (Kurri, Tikkanen, Pouzar, Nilsson, Ruotsalanien, Lindstrom, etc) especially but also the Habs (Naslund, Svoboda) and Flyers (Lindbergh, Eklund, Sinisalo, Samuelsson, Dvorak) plus the Flames with Loob. Even the Stars in 81 had Kent-Erik Andersson. There were a few other teams that tapped Europeans year after year that didn't go all the way, and I'm guessing in a given year here or there the Leafs, Jets, Rangers or Nordiques may have had as many or more Europeans or higher quality Europeans than some of the teams mentioned above, but there were a lot of teams in that era that had few Europeans (some going for years at a time without a Euro on the roster) or lower quality Europeans during that decade.

The WHA merger, the lowering of the draft age and the increase in roster size saw the game speed up considerably, and most of the European players coming over during this time period were above average skaters, which Torrey and Sather particularly leveraged to their advantage.

Yes, we don't disagree.

 

[Boxscore]

Thomas Gradin was tough as nails and incredibly well balanced.

He went through every check like butter.

We used to try and do what he did, and we landed on our ***.

I miss this BCTV news crew:

Great film on Gradin. Awesome player.

 

[Yozhik v tumane]

Yeah, man, not exactly what I'm saying, just noting that, in the 80s, the teams with Stanley Cup success generally had more Euros or higher quality Euro players than most other teams, and I'm betting that if someone wanted to do the count for every team for every year until the big boom in the 90s, I'm guessing that the teams in the Finals had either more or better Euros, or both, than most of the teams in the League

I did a count once!

There were indeed a lot of and/or notable Europeans on the cup finalist rosters of the 1980s. The 1982 finals was the most Euro heavy for 15 years, until 1997. The Habs, Flyers and (especially) Bruins stand out as having fewer Europeans on their rosters, among relatively successful teams of the decade. The Habs did have Mats Näslund however who was their best scorer in their 1986 run, and the Flyers’ few were also relatively impact players. Pelle Eklund (with Kerr out of the lineup) was their #1 center for the 1987 run to the finals, and one point behind Propp for leading them in scoring.

The Bruins didn’t have much success with Euros for a long time, really. Kind of hard to think of Europeans in Boston prior to guys like Axelsson, Samsonov and Stümpel by the late 90s. During my deeper dive on Euro integration I do seem to recall the Bruins at least tried out a fair amount of players, but Michael Thelvén with 207 games across 5 seasons was pretty much the only one with any sticking power.

Quoting my own old head count of cup finalists:

1977 1 (Hagman, 1 GP Bruins: 1st ever)
1978 0
1979 2 (both Rangers)
1980 1 (Persson, Islanders)
1981 2 (one each)
1982 9
1983 5
1984 7
1985 8
1986 3
1987 8
1988 3
1989 4
1990 4 (all Oilers)
1991 4
1992 7
1993 3 (all Kings)
1994 7
1995 9
1996 9
1997 12
1998 13
1999 8
2000 10
2001 9
2002 16
2003 12
2004 12
2006 10
2007 7
2008 15
2009 17
2010 8
2011 10
2012 11
2013 15
2014 8
2015 14
2016 10
2017 13
2018 15
2019 11
2020 18
2021 12

Average number of Europeans per cup final per decade:
1970s: 0,3
1980s: 5
1990s: 7,6
2000s: 10,8
2010s: 11,5
2020s: 15

Additional notes:

• In 1979-80, ten teams employed all 22 NHL skaters trained in Sweden, Finland and Czechoslovakia.
• The 1982 Cup finals (NYI v. VAN) featured eight Swedish skaters: half the NHL total.
• The 1990 Bruins and the 1993 Canadiens are the only finalists since 1980 without a European on their rosters; Canadiens the last champion.

 

[Iron Mike Sharpe]

Awesome, nice to see, confirms to a degree my suspicions, although I suppose in the Euro-starved 80s Sather's insistence on always having a Euro complement - even when people screamed about him "bringing in ringers" like Nilsson and Ruotsalainen - certainly drove the point home that quality European players were having a big impact on the game. Even picking up a guy like Willy Lindstrom to use as a depth player was a stroke of genius, even if he was way past his prime, as he was the kind of guy you like to see in a third line player : speedy, contributes offensively, backchecks, can easily move up and down the lineup as needed.

Forgot about Hagman with the Bruins. Yeah, I guess the Bruins' early experiments with Europeans at best brought Thelven for a few seasons, and Mats Thelin initially showed a lot of promise looking like a young Salming, and they picked up Gradin for his last season in 86-87, but, yeah, forgot that they didn't have any Euros for the 90 run, the only aberration from the timeline. In the 80s the Bruins had their own specialized player pipeline with the US schools that most of the other NHL teams were much slower to pick up on.

Naslund and Svoboda were both important pieces for the Habs, and the 86 playoffs were Svoboda's coming out party (I always thought he was uderrated), and Kjell Dahlin I remember being benched or scratched through the playoffs. The Flames tended to go for having one or two quality Euros in the lineup at a time during that period, maybe holding back somewhat after the big media brouhaha over Nilsson and Al MacNeil. Sometimes I think that the Nilsson controversy was always the big watershed moment for cementing the redneck Canadian anti-Euro player stereotypes despite the fact that most high-level European players did not really warrant some of the criticisms, but with Don Cherry emerging from behind the bench to his bully pulpit at HNIC at the same time, and savaging guys like Hardy Aastrom in his book. almost overnight it seems like attitudes toward Europeans flipped from a guy like Salming being the standard-bearer to a stereotype of the "soft, lazy, floating, inconsistent" European player that didn't abate even as more guys like Tikkanen and Samuelsson came into the NHL.

As for the Canucks and their European players in the 80s, Harry Neale came from the WHA and really had a lot of influence over GM Jake Milford and the direction of the club. Having led the Whalers to the AVCO Cup championship, he likely recognized - particularly in playing against the Jets with players like Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson - that the new NHL was trending in a direction that would favor the use of European players. Eldebrink, Hlinka, Bubla, Lindgren & Molin were all undrafted free agents, Gradin was picked up for a 2nd and Brasar for peanuts. Sundstrom and Skriko were already drafted by the time the Canucks hit the ice against the Isles. I've always been of the opinion that the European cohort was essential in helping the Canucks head for the finish line in 82.

 

[Sanf]

As for the Canucks and their European players in the 80s, Harry Neale came from the WHA and really had a lot of influence over GM Jake Milford and the direction of the club. Having led the Whalers to the AVCO Cup championship, he likely recognized - particularly in playing against the Jets with players like Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson - that the new NHL was trending in a direction that would favor the use of European players. Eldebrink, Hlinka, Bubla, Lindgren & Molin were all undrafted free agents, Gradin was picked up for a 2nd and Brasar for peanuts. Sundstrom and Skriko were already drafted by the time the Canucks hit the ice against the Isles. I've always been of the opinion that the European cohort was essential in helping the Canucks head for the finish line in 82.

Hlinka and Bubla are curious cases because they were drafted in this special Czechoslovakian draft in 1981 (Hlinka selected by Jets and Bubla by Rockies). Later the legality of that draft was questioned, but at the end Canucks lost Brent Ashton and fourth round pick in 1982 draft as compensation for their rights. Complicated.

I believe after 1981 summer the rule changed and you could not sign Europeans as free agents. You had to draft them first. Or they had to play one season in NA before they earned their free agent status. Example is Jan Ludvig who spent the first year in Oilers organization after defecting. Without contract with NHL team ofcourse, but Oilers was paying his house, clothes and training, After earning his freee agent status he signed with Devils (Oilers was not offering him a great contract though).