GDT: KAZ vs. POL May 20, 2024

[Eye of Ra]

This wonderful advantage has historically left Kazakhstan without many players who transfered to Russia.
The literal KHL team also doesn't help, it is not a development org.


Swedish development system: Kopitar, Pastrnak, Fiala, Boedker, Eller, Nielsen etc.
Russian development system: Breus

Ok

Thats it? Just 6 names. Non russians from Russian development system i can mention 30+ players.

 

[WarriorofTime]

About Belarus. The turning point for Belarus wasn't the KHL or Russia or VHL (lol). The turning point was a realization among the top hockey guys in the country that they have been sniffing Latvia's tail for 20 years. Even though they probably enjoyed it, instead of trying to do the same thing over and over again by building talent through Bobruysk Beavers and Dinamo Minsk, they started sending their leading prospects abroad at an earlier age.

The number of CHL players exploded, their exposure in North America increased massively, their efficiency as a programme increased. With exposure being the key element here, with it also trickling down to its KHL/domestic side.

They had 22 CHL draftees from 2000-2010.
That number increased to 11 in 2021 alone. A five-fold increase averaged out from 2011 to 2021.

This has also led to a major increase in NHL draftees.

This makes ZERO sense. The CHL isn't an open signup league. It's very competitive and players have to be good enough to make it onto those teams, which is even more competitive due to limited import slots. You say it like it's solely a "decision" to go there, but forget that it means they have to be producing enough good players to make it there in the first place. That all happens domestically. Hockey development does not begin at 17, they're like a year away from the NHL Draft by then. Look at Levshunov, he played a year up on the U18 Belarus team then went to USHL/NCAA. Obviously players are still maturing and growing, but they aren't a blank slate. The main benefit is just playing against top kids in the age group so they can keep being challenged and figuring thing out before they get to pros, it's not necessarily any magic Canadian dust getting sprinkled to make players good.

Also, you have it backwards, long-term it's better for a country to develop players domestically, more sustainable and more achievable for a wide number of players because it means you can become a pro hockey player without needing to pack up and head to a new country. This has been shown time and time again in Football. The only real exception is very small countries that border big ones (Denmark to Sweden is a pretty good example) because they aren't really going that far away from home (players in Western Canada often move farther to play in the WHL) and there's often not much culture shock. Really sending junior players abroad should be viewed as a temporary stopgap, it's good for individual players at a time when the domestic junior leagues are very weak, however if you want a consistent influx of new talent, it's best to strengthen your junior leagues and then get the best players to stay home.

There is a reason you never see top Swedes play in the CHL. The only time I ever see it is a player that's already been Drafted, participated in an NHL training camp and then gets lent out to a CHL team because they aren't quite ready for the AHL but they/the team prefers to get them more acclimated to North American style. Rarely do they play in the CHL in their draft year. It will be interesting to see how this plays out with Czechia long-term. Currently their junior leagues are not so good, but they are producing more players again like they did before. In large numbers they are coming to the CHL, which is fine for those players, but we'll see if long-term they can convince more to stay home.

 

[PhysicalGraffiti]

A 1st round pick is worth 60 7th round picks. It is a pointless excercise to count the number of draftees without applying a weighted score to their draft #, and even then it's just a measure of hope, which is imaginary and based on educated guesses. It's a theoretical excercise.

This is a weighed ranking of NHL draftees taking into account their draft ranking #, with a 210th pick being worth 1 point and a 1st pick being worth 1000 points, dated from 2019-2023.
Belarus: 251 points
Slovakia: 2455 points
Latvia: 66 points
Germany: 1980 points
Switzerland: 385 points

If you look up how many of the draftees historically actually make it to the NHL, Switzerland has been extremely successful, with almost 2/3 eventually playing an NHL game. Which would not be in any way reflected by the sheer number of NHL draftees even with the weighted scores. For some nations, that number is much lower. Which is a great indicator of the role of bias in draft selections.

Furthermore, this only measures top end talent. Most players on these teams aren't NHLers. Having a few elite forwards does not in any way imply the rest of the team is equally good.

Denmark is a prime example of that. They were a flash in the pan. I made the same point 10 years ago, no one seemed to agree, but they just got lucky with their prospects. You have to have an all-around programme that is capable of developing all types of players. Not just flashy wingers or really good goalies. Which isn't measured by the number of draftees in any way, shape or form.

And then there's this thing called chemistry, leadership, coaching and team play.

Latvia is like a well-oiled machine, they're going to war every game, they're willing to block pucks with their face.

Slovakia is filled with high-ego drama queens who are whining about their linemates on the bench.

Some teams have no confidence and are massive chokers. Some are unable to adapt their play to maximize their results. Some just don't have the kind of players needed to make the necessary adaptations.

If you're only churning out flashy, soft wingers, you're just going to lose every game at this level.

So evem having the players does not guarantee that you're going to get the results needed. It's about culture, coaching and a whole bunch of other things.

Is that for NHL Slovaks or the national team, because I've never heard that reputation. Slovakia has slowed a little but has still had pretty damn good success with players in the NHL overall aside from some high first round draft picks.

 

[Garl]

Thats it? Just 6 names. Non russians from Russian development system i can mention 30+ players.

Go for it