Can you name many NHL D that went to NHL straight from Europe?
yeah and i heard lots of people saying that polish league is better than slovakian league, does not make it true, does it ?
If we look at the top European guys in the AHL now, they're mostly either junior-aged like Jiříček and Nemec, or only slightly older and still struggling to establish themselves like Heinola and Thomson. Lagesson is a bit older, but was only in the second-tier Allsvenskan when he last returned to Sweden in 2020/21. Some of them may become good NHL players in the future, but right now at 19 or 22 they're not better than those in top European leagues.
oh trust me i do.
Jiricek and Nemec just played a full AHL season. Lagesson was in AHL too. The 2020/21 returns are covid blips. Egm Bouchard played in Swedish second league during covid too.
That's a whole another story, Gawanke for one didn't get a single game in the NHL and will now come back to the DEL at 24. He broke records in the AHL but will spend his best years in Germany instead. Explicitly said that he has zero interest in wasting his time in the AHL any longer. The same with Sami Niku and Liiga etc. It's always between the NHL and Europe, never between the AHL and Europe when it comes to where a European player spends his prime. Even a lesser European league like the ICEHL beats the AHL in that regard.
Correct, guys that can't make the NHL leave the AHL for Europe. Europe is littered with failed NHL Czechs that didn't want to be in the AHL any longer. Kovar, Spacek, Chlapik, Sklenickia, Frk, Galvas... none of them could make the NHL fulltime and went to Europe.
Kovář for one was in the AHL for a few weeks before deciding it was a waste of time and heading back to Europe. In terms of quality he was a better player than some ahead of him in the NHL Islanders depth chart, but Trotz preferred a reliable grinder whom he knew well. Kovář could have stayed in the AHL looking for his opportunity and adjusting to the North American game, but for a player already in his prime staying in the minors even just for one season is often not an option. AHL is more of an intermediate step between juniors and pro hockey than it is between Europe and the NHL. For guys like Špaček who played junior hockey in the WHL, then tried to make the big league over the AHL, but that never happened and so he came to Europe. The AHL basically got 193 games in a big role out of a 19-22 years old fairly raw prospect who is now a significantly better player several years more mature in Switzerland.
And? You can check how many players are getting NHL deals from Liiga vs NLA. NLA is a "get your pension money here" league and live by the alps, so it's very top-heavy league but regular 3-4th liners outside of top Swiss teams have no business playing in Liiga skill wise.
Daniel Audette, age 26, was 2nd in Liiga scoring and champions with Lukko two years ago yet is now just such player with Lausanne who didn't make the playoffs. His teammate and sometimes 4th unit linemate Miikka Salomäki, age 29, has been one of the more prominent players in Finland too, yet now finds himself in a small role in the Swiss league. Same goes for Juuso Vainio, age 28, with Fribourg-Gottéron, he captained JYP in Finland and played for Team Finland even this season, but only had a marginal role in the Swiss league and now returned back to JYP after Fribourg-Gottéron chose to not to use their contract option for another year. His teammate Janne Kuokkanen, age 24, a regular with Team Finland this season, often was a 3rd liner in Switzerland and also wasn't extended.
I like you as a poster but you calling somebody else nationality biased is certainly interesting
Long bus rides, lower salary and probability of spending your winter in a small town in upstate NY or Pennsylvania. (Beautiful country, but not where I'd want to spend my 20s if the other option was somewhere in Europe)
Not exactly answering your question, but Sergachev and Provorov went straight from the CHL to the NHL
Funny coming from "Sweden is worse than Latvia" guy.
