State of hockey: Denmark vs Switzerland

[BalticWarrior]

Denmark is ahead of Germany. Germany supposedly has a self-developing system which in theory should make it the better side but that system is going to shambles right now.

Norway always relied on the Swedish feeder like Denmark. They peaked and are now falling because of just sheer lack of production. The same could happen to Denmark in the future if they don't develop their own organizational infrastructure. The general problem in Norway seems to be skating though, all hella slow.

Belarus' problem is the bottleneck of production. You can make the bottle wider but the amount of water trickling out won't increase.

I`m afraid this applies to us aswell, the need to attract sponsors to get a half-way decent league is bigger now then ever, we cant be leeching off of the Swiss,Swedish and Russian leagues forever.

 

[Jablkon]

One thing that not many know (especially the young ones...) about Switzerland and hockey is that until relatively not long ago - talking about till the early 1990s - Swiss players weren't fully pro, including the best ones. They had part time jobs outside of hockey. Not kidding.

For example, in the financial institution I used to work at back then, we had one of the top Swiss players in the nation - a forward named Roberto Triulzi... he also played for Switzerland at world championships & Olympics, look him up... - in our IT department. Imagine what it does to one's hockey development when one has a part time job for a couple of days a week... Of course I don't think Triulzi fixed many computers, but still that was time lost for hockey.

It is not by chance that there were no Swiss prospects drafted until the late 90s. Being pro at 70% or so is not enough to compete with the best.
And it is not a coincidence either that more Swiss youngsters have been drafted since hockey went FULL pro in Switzerland in the early 90s (probably 1990, 1991). Roughly a quarter of a century later, there's a chance - albeit a little outside one - that a Swiss kid, Nico Hischier, could even be a 1st overall.
Switzerland has a great passion for hockey and I doubt that Denmark will be producing more talent in 5 years from now. I think Switzerland will solidify its position right behind the usual "suspects" (CAN, USA, SWE, RUS, FIN) & alongside the Czech Republic, for talent production.

Considering how financially wealthy is your league, it should be like this. But even in darkest years we always have had twice more drafted players than you. Considering that we have about 50 guys in NHL/AHL, another 30 in Russia, question is, where is your talent. If it is at home, then I would suppose that your national team hammers quite a lot of teams....

 

[tony d]

Switzerland for me. Both nations though have great futures in international hockey though.

 

[kabidjan18]

I`m afraid this applies to us aswell, the need to attract sponsors to get a half-way decent league is bigger now then ever, we cant be leeching off of the Swiss,Swedish and Russian leagues forever.

It would be nice, but Latvia is so different because they're such a diversified system, their security is so much better naturally. You just did mention 3 leagues Latvia routinely "leeches" off of and add Norway and the US and Canada because kids go there as well.

Denmark and Norway put all of their eggs into the Swedish basket. If that basket cracks due to a bad year and agents pulling out etc. then the pipeline bursts. Other teams have crutches too, France will definitely be hurt by the 5 import junior rule being implemented in Switzerland. Latvia puts their eggs in so many baskets that they should be much safer. Doesn't mean they shouldn't try developing a local league structure but that's very hard to do with such a small population. The current system isn't bad and it's taken them farther than most people thought Latvia could go in the modern age.

 

[BalticWarrior]

It would be nice, but Latvia is so different because they're such a diversified system, their security is so much better naturally. You just did mention 3 leagues Latvia routinely "leeches" off of and add Norway and the US and Canada because kids go there as well.

Denmark and Norway put all of their eggs into the Swedish basket. If that basket cracks due to a bad year and agents pulling out etc. then the pipeline bursts. Other teams have crutches too, France will definitely be hurt by the 5 import junior rule being implemented in Switzerland. Latvia puts their eggs in so many baskets that they should be much safer. Doesn't mean they shouldn't try developing a local league structure but that's very hard to do with such a small population. The current system isn't bad and it's taken them farther than most people thought Latvia could go in the modern age.

The thing is our new federation has already started on working towards finding sponsors for our league(Thank god Lipmans is gone), i expect in 5-6 year time there will something like we had in the pre-Dinamo era "Samsung premjerlīga"" of sorts
Also there are talks of doing a joint league with Belorussians but who the hell knows how that will end up.

 

[Jablkon]

The thing is our new federation has already started on working towards finding sponsors for our league(Thank god Lipmans is gone), i expect in 5-6 year time there will something like we had in the pre-Dinamo era "Samsung premjerlīga"" of sorts
Also there are talks of doing a joint league with Belorussians but who the hell knows how that will end up.

What you mean? You dont have a league?

 

[kabidjan18]

The thing is our new federation has already started on working towards finding sponsors for our league(Thank god Lipmans is gone), i expect in 5-6 year time there will something like we had in the pre-Dinamo era "Samsung premjerlīga"" of sorts

Well they have to make up the deficit that Lipmans leaving creates (his donations) for starters I would assume. The population of Latvia simply isn't large enough as a population or economically to support a league of the caliber that it would take to have a self-producing system. Corporations have less incentive to invest because of the low potential profit ceiling. The senior league could graduate from being a Beer League but it would take tremendous fortune to graduate to a league where players are paid 25-100k and then the costs of providing more resources for the local junior leagues, attracting top Latvian talent at either the junior or senior levels etc.

Also there are talks of doing a joint league with Belorussians but who the hell knows how that will end up.

This sounds like an amazing idea. This could save both countries actually. Latvia is on more stable footing and needs this less but my oh my does Belarus need this. Pooling resources increases incentive for investment and raising the overall competitiveness level could give Belorussian and Latvian youngsters a place to develop. Keep us updated on this one. Dinamo Minsk and Dinamo Riga have turned to prospect reserves, and especially at Minsk but also definitely at Riga there are talented youth getting sparse ice time at a critical point in their respective developments and it's hampering their growth as athletes.

 

[Tuoppi]

In North America there is a tradition in united leagues but in Europe national leagues however small the country is.

 

[Jakk123]

At the same time the Czechs and Slovaks are dropping. With 4 Czechs and 0 Slovaks drafted last summer.

Simply not true, the Czechs are not dropping. They are nowhere near being as strong as around 2000, but they are definitely improving now.

 

[kabidjan18]

In North America there is a tradition in united leagues but in Europe national leagues however small the country is.

Painting with a wildly large paintbrush you are correct. However, KHL, EBEL, AlpsHL, BeneLiga, I think you get the point.

 

[Tuoppi]

Painting with a wildly large paintbrush you are correct. However, KHL, EBEL, AlpsHL, BeneLiga, I think you get the point.

These leagues are quite new. I was also counting other sports like football (soccer). There are international leagues in basketball though.