Why don't NHL teams take more chances on players from smaller hockey nations?

[EdmFlyersfan]

PEB and Vandevelde made a great 4th line for Philly, you are out to lunch if you think PEB is going to get cut.

Cool, you just named why they don't. Ronalds Kenins has rosy-ish stats to hide long pointless streaks and bouncing back and forth between healthy scratch and fourth line. He's still young so he could have a breakout second year like Michael Raffl. For those who aren't Flyers fans and don't know anything about Bellemare, he's Philadelphia worst forward. There is some speculation he'll get cut. He was worst on the team in pp60, ap60, gp60, apg and was second worst in ppg and gpg to Zac Rinaldo who's a goon. David Wolf has worked out decently in the AHL. Of all those, the only one who has established himself is Michael Raffl with his 21 goal season, but there are more attractive things than having to develop a 25 year old rookie. I really totally agree with you and I think maybe some AHL or ECHL teams should look abroad, but as you pointed out with your success stories, signing international is not a slam dunk despite improved scouting abroad. Btw, Girgensons went through the us hockey system, he wasn't an international signing.

 

[Elvs]

Andreas Martinsen signed with Colorado earlier, and now Arizona has signed Matthias Plachta. NHL teams must have been reading this thread.

 

[JZCislesHockey]

Andreas Martinsen signed with Colorado earlier, and now Arizona has signed Matthias Plachta. NHL teams must have been reading this thread.

And the Islanders are looking hard at Miks Indrasis, apparently.