The NHL’s salary cap and its current player transfer agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation resulted in a growing exodus since the past summer of players signing with European teams.
While the NHL and the IIHF will be re-opening the agreement in January aimed at better compensation for European teams and improved player development, no changes will be made regarding the salary cap.
That still means players who might have had jobs with NHL teams in the past will be faced with playing in Europe if they hope to keep their playing careers alive.
That’s led some observers to suggest this weakens the NHL talent base whilst bolstering the European leagues, especially with recent speculation of Russian billionaire Alex Medvedev forming a rival European league.
A close examination of the caliber of the talent bolting for Europe since July 2007, however, indicates no weakening of the NHL talent base.
The most notable of those players include Alexei Yashin, Petr Nedved, Aleksey Morozov, Oleg Saprykin, Jan Bulis, Anson Carter, Dmitri Afanasenkov, Jamie Lundmark, Ville Nieminen, Ossi Vaananen, Danny Markov, and Ed Belfour.
Not to be cruel, but this list consists of has-beens and never-weres. Of this list, only Markov and Vaananen would still have value today to NHL teams.
Most of the former NHL’ers who headed overseas since the summer made little significant contribution to their respective NHL teams last season, hence the reason they were unable to land new contracts.
Some, like the LA Kings’ Oleg Tverdovsky, NY Rangers’ Darius Kasparaitis, Boston Bruins’ Stanislav Chistov and Columbus Blue Jackets Alex Svitov, broke existing NHL contracts to play in the Russian Super League. Russia is currently not part of the NHL-IIHF player transfer agreement.
Those players did so either to avoid toiling in the minors or to earn more money and playing time back in Russia, but only the Blue Jackets were upset over losing their player. The departures of Tverdovsky, Kasparaitis and Chistov were greeted almost with silence by their respective NHL teams. The Rangers actually encourage Kasparaitis to return to Russia.
The reason is quite clear: they were no longer good enough to be NHL players, and their respective NHL teams were pleased to be free of their remaining contractual obligations.
It’s their inability to play well enough to merit NHL contracts that kept most of the aforementioned players out of the league, not the salary cap.
If Yashin, Tverdovsky, Nedved, and Kasparaitis were still in their playing prime it would be a worthwhile concern that their absence hurts the NHL talent. Nobody misses them now, and if the European leagues want them, they’re welcome to them.
If impending free agents like Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Lidstrom, Marian Hossa, Corey Perry or Dion Phaneuf were signed by European teams next summer it would merit concern. However, the NHL is the showcase of the best talent in professional hockey and there’s no European team or league that can competitively bid for the NHL’s best talent.
That’s why some of this concern about a European “super league” challenging the NHL’s supremacy is baseless.
Any new “super league” would either have to convince the top teams in the currently established European leagues to join them or would have to create new teams in those countries.
Don’t expect either prospect to be successful. Many of the current European leagues have rich legacies and aren’t about to tear themselves apart to join a new “super league”. Fans of those respective established leagues won’t transfer their loyalties from their current teams any more than most NHL fans did when the World Hockey Association was in its heyday in the 1970s.
Furthermore, many of the European teams lack NHL-style facilities to pack in the kind of audiences required to drum up the revenue required for NHL-style payrolls, and it remains to be seen if European hockey fans would warm to the prospect of paying much higher ticket prices.
Even the richest teams in the Russian Super League having payrolls less than half of those of the top NHL teams. It takes big bucks to entice the top NHL talent to Europe and that kind of money just isn’t there.
Ultimately, the level of talent heading to Europe won’t make European leagues significantly stronger and aren’t a direct challenge to the NHL’s superiority.
DId you guys see the BS #### that happened with the yotes and the sharks game, and Brenier punching wiht the stick in his hand and then Roenick inuring Carcillo?
bush league stuff man, and the refs in that game were the worst i have ever seen....
The Nhl is the Top ticket in the world of hockey and will be so for the next 10 years or so. I could see a unified European League coming in to Challenge the NHL. Sweden, Finland, Russia, Die Schweiz and Germany have the best leagues outside of North america. I think if you took the better teams in each one of those leagues and forged one league, with teams in Moscow, Berlin, Zurich, Stockholm, Helsinki, Kiev, Hamburg, Goeteburg, Prague, Bratislava, St. Petersburg. maybe one in London, Copenhagen a few popular teams that already exist in Sweden and Russia. That would be a good league that has populations that could support major teams.
And if Russians oligarchs just through money at teams like Roman Abramovich has for Chelsea(soccer) it could most definitely challenge the NHL. Shoot, most of the cities I've listed above are better than half of the US hockey markets.
One thing I would like to see is a international champions league of Hockey like they have for Soccer. The top few teams from each international league would play a tournement like the Uefa Club Champions league. Awesome! imagine the Maple Leafs or Red Wings playing against team Moscow or Modo.
Last edited by WildGophers on December 22nd at 10:27 PM.
I used to believe it was possible for a European superleague, but changed my mind after researching the possibility during the lockout three years ago, with bloggers and freelancers who cover the European leagues.
First, almost all the current leagues are long-established, with teams that have long, rich histories and are strongly supported. There's an unwillingness to break up those leagues or to band into a "super-league".
Facilities are lacking. Most arenas have 8,000-10,000 capacity, nowhere close to NHL capacity, and few teams show a willingness to build larger facilities.
Ticket prices are also a factor. Currently it's very affordable to watch a game in any of the European leagues but the prices would be jacked substantially in order to pay NHL-type salaries. Even with tax breaks for the players, it'll still mean much higher prices, and that sticker shock would have an adverse effect on attendance.
Finally, owners. Few outside of the Russian Super League have the money to make a super-league work, and those Russian oligarchs you refer to prefer to bankroll their own teams rather than invest in a much broader league. Even though they pay the best salaries, their team payrolls are less than half of an average NHL franchise, and as some who've played in Russia have found, sometimes payments aren't consistent or in full.
A European super-league is possible in ten years, but also unlikely. Too many factors work against it
Last edited by Spector on December 23rd at 5:06 AM.
I maintain that Aleksey Morozov, who last zear set the single season record for points in the Russian Elite League would have likely had an All Star Game calibre season if he had plazed that well in the NHL.
I think when we do see a major international tournament like the Olympics, North American fans will be shocked to learn that a couple of these "has beens" and "never was" players play as well as the best the NHL has to offer.
A few, perhaps, but most won't. As we've seen in previous Olympic Games and World Hockey Championships in recent years, it's the top NHL caliber talent driving those teams. Few notice or care about the odd former NHLer who pops up on those teams because they rarely stand out.
P.O.P.:
One reason some of these players don't make NHL teams, but may want to play in N.A., is nearly every GM involved with NHL teams is Canadian. The same reasoning can be used when you look at an NHL roster and see how relatively few U.S. born players are on rosters. It's only an opinion, but the quality (and quantity)of U.S. hockey players should mean more rosters with US cities next to the players names. One of the few exceptions is Lou Lamorillo's team this year...look how many US collegians are on the team and how well they are doing.
Leonard MacEachern, Detroit, MI via Nova Scotian parentage.
A record number of Americans are playing in the NHL seemingly every year. I might have believed an Anti-American bias years ago, but not now. Lamoriello has been exceptional in finding American talent, but I don't think it is right to say the Canadian GM's are avoiding American players. For instance, when have the Montreal Canadiens NOT had or drafted an American player?
Your argument is more valid talking about the development of players, not their nationality. The simple fact is that in every respect, Junior Hockey and the CHL are better proving grounds for NHL talent than NCAA Hockey. The Americans playing Junior are doing just fine, and by and large those that have done well in the CHL (LaFontaine, Roenick, Modano, Kane, Legwand, just to name a few) have done well in the NHL.
NCAA Hockey is great--there is nothing wrong with it. The rivalries and great traditions make College Hockey a great sport--and NHL talent can still come out of there. It's just that Junior is better for players who want to play in the NHL.
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
