Mostly from the previous generation of players: Lehtinen, Saku, Hagman and co.. Not many are over 6ft and they usually play way bigger than their size.
Swedish junior teams have more or less changed their systems completely. I think most of the teams now play more of a quick crash and bang game with all forwards crashing the net on the rush. The forechecking is more aggressive now too.
The SEL isn't there yet, but in 5-10 years I think and really hope it'll change. Hockey is more fun watching and playing that way. Especially if we make our rinks smaller.
This is probably a reason why young Swedish players isn't "soft" anymore. We're not at the North Americans' level but still.
In Europe you often here about Finns as the best skaters around
And with the history germans have in the NHL (Krupp-Sturm, Hecht-Seidenberg, Ehrhoff) I guess they have the same stereotype as usual germans: tough, disciplined, hard working
Finland = third line grinders and great goalies
Sweden = solid two-way hockey players
Russia = smooth skating and high scoring ability but soft
Canada = hard nosed complete players
USA = great snipers
1. If you want to win, get a Finn
2. Swedes who do well begin to talk about retiring 7 years before they actually do.
3. Americans expect to win, but more often just lose, then get drunk and trash things afterwards.
4. Canadians play pro and international hockey well because they learned to skate and stick handle with frozen feet and hands.
5. In a shootout, Germans will dump the puck in and circle the neutral zone.
Canadians; physical, gritty and clutch (Iginla,Eberle,Thornton) Russians; dangler, sniper, excellent skater, inconsistent or lazy (Kovalev,Bure,Semin) Finns; Goalkeeping, skill but no clutch (Granlund,Koivu,Kipper) Czech/Slovak; determination and teamwork (Jagr,Chara) Swedes;2-way play and leadership (Zetterberg,Lidström,Backström)
These are all the main stereotypes out there that aren't actually there. There may be a couple players of the nationality that fall under the stereotypes, but very few do, and most players are unique. I did a report about this for my Sociology class last semester.
I feel like most of these stereotypes have gotten a bit watered down with time and a larger talent pool.
For example the Canadian don't come off as very tough. There is Pronger, Iginla, and Doan but they are a part of the older generation of Canadian players. The young guys seem to play a more skill oriented game (Eberle, Stamkos, Crosby)
or
I don't see the Russian stereotypes as overly true either. Just look at Ovechkin or Kovalchuk, I think they have a lot of heart and they're not soft either.
Maybe it's the mixture of playing styles with the fall of the iron curtain that caused players to become more well-rounded.
Finland = third line grinders and great goalies
Sweden = solid two-way hockey players
Russia = smooth skating and high scoring ability but soft
Canada = hard nosed complete players
USA = great snipers
Haha I love how the Canadians give the Canadians the best steryotypes
Canadians - tough as nails - ready to fight
Finns - always give it all
USA - in general a very high skill level but sometimes lack a little heart
other - wrong game
And that's the truth! Not only were they of another breed then todays russian players, they also had very good chemistry which is they biggest reason why they could compete with Canada back in the day.
