Ultimately production in the SHL translates a lot better to the NHL than production in the AHL according to the researches. If your point was the case, how do you explain that?
You must also remember that the AHL teams have horrible conditions to do something with their teams/skill.
*Huuuuge roster turnover Y2Y.
*Physical play and a lot of injuries.
*Besides injuries, call-ups totally without consideration to how they affect the AHL team. Whoops we lost our top 3 guys during a week.
*They play a ton of games and travel a lot.
Do you think the above benefit players that thrive in an unorganized environment? Of course it does. The NHL is anything but unorganized right now.
The SHL is the top professional league in Sweden, and as such obviously plays at a high level. The AHL is much larger and closed to promotion/relegation, so poorly run teams can hang around for much longer than in European leagues. Look no further than our Wolf Pack. And this obviously speaks to your point.
The flip side, though, is that while I've seen the NHLe scores and don't doubt them, it would seem to me that the sample of SHL players coming to North America and playing in the NHL is skewed by a smaller sample of more highly-skilled players. Many of whom skip the AHL altogether. Whereas here, teams seem to generally look to the CHL and NCAA to find their bottom six grinders, rather than drafting a European player where the wait may be longer and it may be more difficult to determine whether their abilities will translate to North America. Basically what I'm saying is, the caliber of the average Swedish player is probably higher than the average North American player, though fewer are drafted in general, which has an effect on the numbers. And of course, many players from Europe or Russia will simply leave rather than spending three or four years in the AHL trying to scratch out s bottom six role in the NHL. This, in a way, speaks to your point as well.
But, NHL teams cherry picking the top European talent while simultaneously filling out the rest of the draft board with middling North American prospects actually, to me, reinforces my point. The mix of players in the AHL is probably most representative of an NHL roster structure of all the leagues in the world. The roster composition you see in the AHL is generally very similar to what you'd see in the NHL, and is hardly devoid of skill in any way. And the style of hockey in theory is highly similar to the NHL style, even if, again, it's not quite up to par.
Cheechoo is an odd example as you're just looking at a 20-game sample during the lockout; long after his game collapsed he then went on to have a hugely effective career in the KHL. McCabe played 10 games during the lockout. I mean are those really good examples? Guys who signed on in Sweden to make a buck waiting for the NHL to resume play?
I'm not taking the position that the AHL is "better"; to the contrary, I'd place it right behind the SHL, and either parallel to or slightly behind Liiga (although I've been less impressed with Liiga over the past few years).
The unorganized element is a different story, but that's the name of the game in North American sports and I think it's generally expected by most players. Baseball is even worse. The NBA wants badly to establish an AHL-like farm system. The NFL has tried similar things in the past. I won't try to argue it superior or inferior, it's just how we do it. And with our guys, again, I think it's an expectation. And for most it doesn't seem to be a problem.
Anyway, not sure where the conversation started here, but my point just boils down to the fact that I believe the AHL is a very good facsimile for the NHL and for
most players, particularly North American players, it's a good option. And not just go learn how to grind or forecheck or whatever--plenty of room to develop actual skill down there. It's not a league for every prospect, and the SHL may be better at some elements of player development. Particularly as it pertains to the cherry-picked, highly-skilled players you so often see taken in the top two or three rounds from there. But that's all it is, two different leagues that help different players in different ways. And some guys are equipped to thrive in one environment but not the other.
). Tampa Bay took Alexandr Svitov #OA in 2001. Toronto took Luke Schenn #5OA. The Islanders and Oilers are far from champions but I don't think I need to list all their top-5 success stories.Maybe this weekend.
