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Latvia: Latvian prospects

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ozo said:
How rare is to see MHL B alumni getting an NHL contract? Crazy.
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There is always Sprukts, who was released by a Danish league team just to make his way to the NHL in a couple of years.. :D
 
GX said:
There is always Sprukts, who was released by a Danish league team just to make his way to the NHL in a couple of years.. :D
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Sprukts did produced 12 points in 15 games for Odense. I thought it was because of lack of finances.
Alexander Macijevskis played for Odense and was most likely the cause Spruks came over to the club in the first place.

But this article supports you are right :laugh:
Source: http://www.fyens.dk/modules/mobile/article?articleid=478568
Quote: "spilleren som OIK ikke var interesseret i at forlænge med."
Translation: "the player that Odense ishockey Klub wasn't interested in prolonging [the contract] with".

"Good" job Odense :shakehead

But it is not the worst a danish club has done in sports:
Brøndby said no to Luka Modric twice! :help:
In 2003 a 100.000 Euro offer from his agent to several Danish superliga clubs (!!) and again in 2005 to Brøndby for 1,25 mil Euro. They felt he was to small and not good enough :laugh:
In 2008 he was sold for 20 mil Euro to Tottenham and went on to Real Madrid.
 
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Hvidovre now has two Latvians on the roster - though they have chosen to play for respectively Danish and Swedish youth NT's.
17 year old Victor Cubars, son of Sergejs Cubars [only Hvidovre player to have his number retired].
20 year old Edgars Treijs, who put up good numbers in the Swedish SuperElit (J20) last two years.
Roster so far:
Hvidovre Fighters at eliteprospects.com

Hvidovre had its best years when Leonids Tambijevs and Andrejs Ignatovics played there in the middle to late 90's.
4th place in 1995/96, where Leonids Tambijevs became Danish League Player of the Year and scored the most goals (61). That was 21 goals more than Petri Skriko, who was a former 4-times 30 (+) goalscorer in NHL.
Source: Elite Prospects - Denmark Stats 1995-1996
 
Two Lativans drafted in the 2020 CHL Import Draft:

Janis Švanenbergs (RW, HC Riga) picked #58 by Edmonton Oil Kings (WHL)
Kaspars Ziemiņš (F, HS Riga) picked #103 by Peterborough Petes (OHL)
 
Antons Trastasenkovs

Skated for Dinamo Riga in the KHL last year but don't see him on the roster this year. Is he still playing and is there anything to know about him in terms of being a prospect?
 
He has joined a Swedish fourth-tier team. Wouldn't consider him a prospect.
 
Haralds Egle with 9 points in 9 games in the Slovak league. Not exactly the toughest competition but considering this is his first pro season definitely puts him on track to become a solid pro.
 
I believe Egle has an AHL contract with Manitoba (Jets' affiliate) so it will be interesting to see how things go.
 
Looking at how many players choose it (~40 imports from NA alone) clubs there must pay at least survivable salaries and you are on the radar for Allsvenskan/Norwegian/Danish clubs, it's not as much of a career dead-end as Erste Liga or Alps HL.

Golovkovs had signed with the same team last summer, he got to move to Odense mid-season and has an Allsvenskan contract for the next year already.
 
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The Latvian hockey-team reminds of the Finnish team in the 70s or still in the 80s as well.

The sport is very popular in the country and every now and then they cause big trouble for the top teams but in the long run they just don't have enough depth to break through to the top.

I hope their story becomes similar to the one of Finland.
 
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VLK said:
The sport is very popular in the country and every now and then they cause big trouble for the top teams but in the long run they just don't have enough depth to break through to the top.
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Well, that's the main issue in all the former Soviet states - the sport is popular only on the surface, superficially. Be it Belarus, or Latvia, or Kazakhstan - all of whom consider hockey to be their #1 sports - there are no fans in the stands. And the local league is the backbone of any kind of success. It's really hard to create any kind of depth in a hockey pyramid when the viewership of local games (which subsequently dictates the budget and other factors of local teams) is counted in hundreds.
 
FreshBlood said:
Is there any prospect who could go in first round in up coming drafts?
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Definitely no. Latvia lacks top tier tallant in the upcoming years. However, this draft can be one of the deapest in all of history fot Latvia, or can be a complete fluke due to all of the prospects being middle tier will-they wont-they guys.
Guys in their draft year:
Niks Fenenko - solid defensive D, 16p in 23g in QMJHL. Best +/- (+5) in D1 U20 Latvian team, should go in middle rounds;
Karlis Mezsargs - unstable goalkeeper, was at times great in MHL and got called to MHL all-star game, but was completely owned at the D1 U20 this year;
Sandis Vilmanis and Dans Locmelis - two players from swedish U20 league. Vilmanis earned some extra points by scoring 3 points in D1 U20 for Latvia, while Locmelis had just 1g in this tourney.

Then, there are overagers like Bogdans Hodass (D, WHL 16p in 23g) or Harijs Brants (D, QMJHL 6p in 24g, but was heavily realied on in national team D1 U20).

A lot will depend on the U18 elite championship. Guys can either be blown-out and be completely ignored later at the draft, or can put up a fight and be noticed. A lot will depend on the agents and direct player-club relations. So, it can be 0 drafted players, or 4+, which would be the best result for Latvia in its history.
 
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Hello gentlemen. How do you see NHL draft 2023 for Latvia?


Imo trio Fenenko, Bulans and Rullers will be taken somewhere from in between 4-7. round. Still don't understand how Fenenko haven't been taken year ago.

Some chances for Hodass, Ozolins, Ozols, Bukarts, Berzins (a really liked that dude in the net)?

I believe that Silovs´s performance can help a little bit to bring the awareness of Latvian goaltenders on draft. After all he was take in 6TH round as a low risk pick (playing for HS Riga that year just like Ozols).

Anyway to me Latvia will very unlikely end up with O players drafted and very unlikely more then 3 guys.

My percentage bet chances:

Fenenko (D) - 90%
Bulans (D) - 90%
Rullers (F) - 75%

Berzins (G) - 65%
Ozols (G) - 60%

Bukarts (F) - 50%

Hodass and Ozolins - 25%
 
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Jakub97 said:
Hello gentlemen. How do you see NHL draft 2023 for Latvia?


Imo trio Fenenko, Bulans and Rullers will be taken somewhere from in between 4-7. round. Still don't understand how Fenenko haven't been taken year ago.

Some chances for Hodass, Ozolins, Ozols, Bukarts, Berzins (a really liked that dude in the net)?

I believe that Silovs´s performance can help a little bit to bring the awareness of Latvian goaltenders on draft. After all he was take in 6TH round as a low risk pick (playing for HS Riga that year just like Ozols).

Anyway to me Latvia will very unlikely end up with O players drafted and very unlikely more then 3 guys.

My percentage bet chances:

Fenenko (D) - 90%
Bulans (D) - 90%
Rullers (F) - 75%

Berzins (G) - 65%
Ozols (G) - 60%

Bukarts (F) - 50%

Hodass and Ozolins - 25%
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I mostly agree with your evaluations, however, Im slightly less optimistic with these %.

Fenenko - I was really surprised when he was not taken last year. However, what makes you so certain he will be taken this year? He had basically the same season point wise, and his only improvement was going from 0+1 in 4 playoff games to 1+2 in 4 playoff games as well as 1+0 in 5 WJC games to 1+1 in 6 WJC games. Will this be enough of a difference to take an overager who was skipped previously?

Bulans - really hope he will be taken. However, he gives me strong previous season Fenenko vibes. Plus, he played like 1/3 of the season due to injury. I swear Latvian defencemen are cursed in the NHL draft.

Rullers - nothing flashy about the guy, but who knows. Doubt he is on many teams radar, however it may take only one scout to go watch few Mestis games this season to be taken in last rounds.

Ozols - meh. Idk. Maybe there will indeed be some "Silovs factor". However, Silovs was not drafted because of Latvian league, but because of WJC. 3.32 GAA and 91.8 Svs% got him into the 6th round. Will Ozols's 4.15 GAA and 88.3 Svs% get him anywhere?

Berzins - was fantastic at the U20. Too bad everyone probably forgot about that.

Bukarts - nothing spectacular in the Swiss juniors. And how many guy get drafted from this league? Last year the only swiss guy to be drafted was Bichsel. And he got drafted from Sweden. You would think that if any scout watches swiss juniors, they would take at least the very best guy from there?

I hope that we continue the success of previous draft and have at least one drafted player. Because with Mateiko and Ansons coming next year, I feel that there are at least two guys who will definitely be drafted in 2024. And we need to keep this streak of drafted players uninterrupted.
Years 2003-2005 are really good for Latvia. You can tell this by the recent results of U-18 and U-20. Even if none of the mentioned guys get noticed at the draft, most of them still make an impact in the National team in 3-5 years.
 
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I am a quite optimistic for sure. Certainly those mentioned boys will be taken late (around 150th - 224th)

I liked the way Fenenko played U20. Ready to support the offence and really solid with transition. I see certain potential. Reminds me of Morgan Rielly a bit.
He was one of the youngest prospects year ago and scouts probably needed to see more of his game.

With Bulans - it kind of sucks he did not play U20. That could help. I saw short sequences of his play off game and he looked solid to me.

Those two have a shot although as you say Latvian defenders aren't favourite ones. (still believe one Latvian goaltender will be taken :D ).

Anyway NHL Draft isn´t everything and as you mentioned - as long as this generation 03 - 05 can be decent core for A team in future playing in top European leagues it will be great for Latvia itself.


Mateiko and Ansons look really promising for next year's draft. Perhaps 2-3 rounders?
 
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Plus let's not forget Latvia won bronze medal and that CAN only help and it won't go without any notice.
 
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