Ian Esplen
Registered User
i think it wouls be great to see a few rsl teams and maybe a sel team or 2 do a toer of the nhl like the russian teams did in the late 80's. it would be a good gage as to where the league stand.
Thirteen players on the Bridgeport Sound Tigers roster played in the NHL this year, many for a significant period of time.
The leagues are close. AHL teams would beat RSL teams, and visa versa.
Martin St.Pierre was cut off from Khimik. Zenon Konopka, the captain and leader for the Crunch, tryed to get a spot on the Lada Togliatti roster, but after 4 games Lada sent him back.Compare that with the most productive AHL players: Jason Krog, Martin St.Pierre, Ted Purcell, PA Parenteau, Jeff Tambellini, Rob Schremp, Corey Locke, Joe Motzko. I'm sure these guys could post good numbers in the RSL as well.
Let me reiterate my point - the AHL is full of mistakes! It is chippy hockey. It is junior hockey stripped of the really poor players and the stars. RSL has no shortage of stars.
And for the guy talking about systems, RSL uses a more systematic style of play than AHL.
Some the the systems used in the RSL do not translate as well to a smaller ice surface with intense physical forechecking. We have seen over and over that the "simpler" dump and chase and aggressive forechecking style played in the AHL holds its own against the prettier, flow and possesion oriented style favoured in Russia. I don't think the AHL is better, but I think if meaningful head to head series were played between RSL and AHL teams the record would not be as lobsided as some think.
How about a point-per-game analysis of players who have played in both the RSL and AHL (lets say more than 20 games in both leagues) within the last two seasons. Career numbers are representative of just that; the player's career stats within that league. Stats under the "recent" heading are those accumulated within the last two seasons:
Artem Anisimov
Career RSL: 0.268 (15 points in 56 games)
Recent RSL: 0.326 (15 points in 46 games)
Career AHL: 0.557 (44 points in 79 games)
Recent AHL: 0.557 (44 points in 79 games)
Vladimir Denisov
Career RSL: 0.077 (3 points in 39 games)
Recent RSL: 0.077 (3 points in 39 games)
Career AHL: 0.121 (8 points in 66 games)
Recent AHL: 0.121 (8 points in 66 games)
Nikolai Lemtyugov
Career RSL: 0.396 (44 points in 111 games)
Recent RSL: 0.357 (20 points in 56 games)
Career AHL: 0.536 (37 points in 69 games)
Recent AHL: 0.536 (37 points in 69 games)
David Ling
Career RSL: 0.657 (65 points in 99 games)
Recent RSL: 0.644 (29 points in 45 games)
Career AHL: 0.909 (468 points in 515 games)
Recent AHL: 0.795 (62 points in 78 games)
Enver Lisin
Career RSL: 0.269 (36 points in 134 games)
Recent RSL: 0.381 (8 points in 21 games)
Career AHL: 0.606 (40 points in 66 games)
Recent AHL: 0.594 (38 points in 64 games)
Alexei Mikhnov
Career RSL: 0.429 (138 points in 322 games)
Recent RSL: 0.628 (54 points in 86 games)
Career AHL: 0.666 (18 points in 27 games)
Recent AHL: 0.666 (18 points in 27 games)
Alexander Nikulin
Career RSL: 0.420 (50 points in 119 games)
Recent RSL: 0.489 (22 points in 45 games)
Career AHL: 0.704 (50 points in 71 games)
Recent AHL: 0.704 (50 points in 71 games)
Sergei Ogorodnikov
Career RSL: 0.154 (10 points in 65 games)
Recent RSL: 0.080 (2 points in 25 games)
Career AHL: 0.222 (6 points in 27 games)
Recent AHL: 0.222 (6 points in 27 games)
Alexander Suglobov
Career RSL: 0.296 (32 points in 108 games)
Recent RSL: 0.487 (19 points in 39 games)
Career AHL: 0.695 (146 points in 210 games)
Recent AHL: 0.406 (13 points in 32 games)
Andrei Taratukhin
Career RSL: 0.346 (72 points in 208 games)
Recent RSL: 0.463 (31 points in 67 games)
Career AHL: 0.750 (60 points in 80 games)
Recent AHL: 0.750 (60 points in 80 games)
Oleg Tverdovsky
Career RSL: 0.391 (99 points in 253 games)
Recent RSL: 0.424 (25 points in 59 games)
Career AHL: 0.857 (24 points in 28 games)
Recent AHL: 0.857 (24 points in 28 games)
Pavel Valentenko
Career RSL: 0.036 (2 points in 56 games)
Recent RSL: 0.037 (2 points in 54 games)
Career AHL: 0.281 (16 points in 57 games)
Recent AHL: 0.281 (16 points in 57 games)
Darcy Verot
Career RSL: 0.070 (3 points in 43 games)
Recent RSL: 0.070 (3 points in 43 games)
Career AHL: 0.263 (110 points in 418 games)
Recent AHL: 0.338 (23 points in 68 games)
Roman Voloshenko
Career RSL: 0.115 (3 points in 26 games)
Recent RSL: 0.095 (2 points in 21 games)
Career AHL: 0.599 (91 points in 152 games)
Recent AHL: 0.395 (30 points in 76 games)
Ilya Zubov
Career RSL: 0.365 (35 points in 96 games)
Recent RSL: 0.441 (15 points in 34 games)
Career AHL: 0.514 (38 points in 74 games)
Recent AHL: 0.514 (38 points in 74 games)
As this list of players was compiled off the top of my head; my apologies to anyone whom I have surely missed. On the whole, I think the stats speak for themselves. Combine that with the fact that RSL salaries dwarf those of the AHL and the general trend is for players to have much larger roles in the AHL than they would in the RSL... Well, I personally don't see the comparison as being overly close.
PS: I think I'm developing a hate for calculators after crunching all those numbers!
Martin St.Pierre was cut off from Khimik. Zenon Konopka, the captain and leader for the Crunch, tryed to get a spot on the Lada Togliatti roster, but after 4 games Lada sent him back.
RSL>>>AHL.
Pointless argument though, unless you have watched a good amount of game from both leagues, which very few here have (I have by the way). If you are only making the argument based on a few examples of players or stats, it is pointless, meeningless, as everyone is going to hold there own biased opinion. I honestly try to be unbiased and say that the RSL is a more smoother game with more skill, but the AHL has more scoring, yet more mistakes (too many for my liking) and chippier.
Comparing a players numbers from the two leagues wouldn't work, because please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it true that the RSL doesn't count secondary assists?
In fact, IMO, many of the elite RSL teams are good enough to give NHL squads a run for their money.
There are a lot of NHL-caliber players in the AHL who simply aren't good enough to make their team at that position. Remember, each AHL team is basically "farm team" or "development team" for a specific NHL team; if a defenseman on the AHL Hershey Bears isn't good enough to make the Washington Capitals, then he can't go to another NHL team unless he is traded.RSL have the best players in the world outside the NHL. The AHL does not have the Best players outside the NHL, its kinda unfair to compare the 2 leauges actually, one leauge is actually farm teams for the PRO leauge, and the RSL is the top leauge in Europe.
Martin St.Pierre in Khimik this season:
14 games, 1 goal, 6 assists, 7 points.
In Rockford IceHogs this season:
69 games, 21 goals, 67 assists, 80 points.