Is there an issue with Finnish development system ?

[Albatros]

Again, there's enough money in Finnish hockey for hundreds of athletes to make a decent living whether in the domestic league or abroad. But for example in gymnastics even the best can't expect to ever make much more than the annual €20k grant that a small handful of top athletes across all sports receive from the government. That's about $1800 a month (the most any gymnast currently makes is $900). A far cry from the $7.1 million that Biles made last year. Yet a Mikko Rantanen makes more than that.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Again, there's enough money in Finnish hockey for hundreds of athletes to make a decent living whether in the domestic league or abroad. But for example in gymnastics even the best can't expect to ever make much more than the annual €20k grant that a small handful of top athletes across all sports receive from the government. That's about $1800 a month (the most any gymnast currently makes is $900). A far cry from the $7.1 million that Biles made last year. Yet a Mikko Rantanen makes more than that.

Biles only made that because she is the best ever. Ordinary gymnasts don't make that in the U.S.

 

[Albatros]

Even a Fred Richard has a pile of endorsement deals, his own clothing brand, a million followers on social media, and a University of Michigan scholarship thanks to his career. Not to mention a Finnish gymnastics coach that only gets to do his job professionally in the US.

 

[WayTooCold]

In Finland all the talent is pushed into hockey.
You make good money in the NHL and get Miss Finland as girlfriend.
In marathon running you end up poor.

The Finnish culture is all about drinking beer, eating sausage and hockey.
No money or talent left for swimming for example.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

This reminds me of the early 2000s where there was this "everybody plays" mentality and everybody was being developed into a two-way grinder.

Finland's also been over-achieving a lot lately so now that's being treated as the new standard which is unrealistic.

It's been awesome being able to compete with teams like Canada in the finals, we've finally been good enough to have other countries hate on us in these boards but realistically Finland's too small to sustain that. The population density is very low for and there aren't as many arenas and things like that as in say Sweden to adapt to that.

Other countries like Czechia and Slovakia have a very promising future (which is great, love those countries) and I expect they'll be better than Finland in a few years if the trend continues.

 

[Czechboy]

This reminds me of the early 2000s where there was this "everybody plays" mentality and everybody was being developed into a two-way grinder.

Finland's also been over-achieving a lot lately so now that's being treated as the new standard which is unrealistic.

It's been awesome being able to compete with teams like Canada in the finals, we've finally been good enough to have other countries hate on us in these boards but realistically Finland's too small to sustain that. The population density is very low for and there aren't as many arenas and things like that as in say Sweden to adapt to that.

Other countries like Czechia and Slovakia have a very promising future (which is great, love those countries) and I expect they'll be better than Finland in a few years if the trend continues.

I wouldn't say better..

I have Finland in top tier and hope they stay. I want us to join the tier with the Finn's.

In any case.. looking at senior players.. czechs and Slovaks combined are behind Finland today.

 

[ijuka]

There are several issues, from nepotism to Jukka Jalonen-inspired team play focus and shunning individual talent, to coaches tryharding at minor hockey levels instead of using systems that are ideal for players to develop, to players simply having very lackluster training programs leaving all Finnish prospect far behind all other prospects come draft time, etc.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

I wouldn't say better..

I have Finland in top tier and hope they stay. I want us to join the tier with the Finn's.

I hope you do! the league would be awesome with more Czech stars. You guys have some very exciting prospects in the next few drafts so hopefully the trend continues. Same goes for Slovakia.