Guy Lafleur telling European players to just stay there after the Lockout
Funny, reading legendary Habs Guy Lafleurs comments about some of the NHL'ers, like Ovechkin, commenting that they just might stay in the KHL the rest of the year, even if the Lockout is over.
He tells them to just stay there, and this will make room for more Quebec & other North American players to join the NHL.
It's not a very realistic idea; the KHL is the only league in Europe that can offer players NHL-level - or higher - salaries. Why would European players want to stay in Europe, when they can make more money in NA while playing in the prestigious NHL?
In my mind, the best players should play in the best league, no matter where they are from.
As a european point of view I would want the NHL to have the best players in the world rather than just the best North American + SOME euros.
There will be russians in the NHL even after this, in part because I think the NA entice in more ways than just money. There might be a few less though who knows. Depends on how much the players will have to give in the end I guess, and also it depends on how well financially the KHL can hold up. I think that at least some teams in the KHL will continue to have pretty large salaries, there is some people with a lot of money in Russia that like to own teams both soccer and hockey teams.
I want to see how the European teams would face off with some of the NHL teams.
Bring together the best teams world wide in one big tournament. # of teams selected per league depending on IIHF league rankings. NHL will send 2 canadian teams, 2 american teams. KHL will send 2 russian teams and 2 non russian teams. or 3 and 1 whatever. Leagues like Swed, fin, swiss will send 3 teams each. Leagues like Germany, Czech, Slovakia will send down 2 teams each. Leagues in Austria, UK will send over 1 team each. European champions from the year will be allowed in (there is one euro league that every country does except russia, i think france team won it 2 years ago)... The best team from Pacific and Asia will be allowed 1 spot.
28 teams... separate it by division/groups at first. best 2 of each group then enter the knockout stages until final game. Just like the European soccer championship
Terrible idea. The NHL is the best league in the world because of the combined talent of top international and domestic players. Lafleur is just from a different time, like Don Cherry, and believes that the Cold War is still going on and that the Eastern Europeans are communists and should be hated. This is what the propaganda machine of the 1950's, 60's, 70's and 80's told them so this is what they believe. Don't read much into this.
The decline of European players in the NHL is already happening, from about 30% to low 20s between the lockouts. Only the amount of Swedish, Danish and Swiss players is on the rise, where the latter two have gone from almost non-existant to a few. But if I had to guess it'll probably continue to fluctuate, even if I think the amount of Russians will continue to stay low.
What an odd mindset some people have, and it's even weirder to hear it from someone so immersed in the sport.
I would rather even have all the best players playing together in China than having everyone stuck in separate leagues. That's the very thing that makes the NHL exciting; it's got all the best players.
This from a guy who never took care of his body despite all the talent in the world. Heavy smoker, lots of partying, and unsurprisingly was washed up by age 29. He isn't exactly an authority on how to manage anything...
