You forgot to add Bäckström, Berglund and Hörnqvist to that list, and i guess Hjalmarsson and Gunnarsson can also be included (Not saying they're stars)
Canadians have a lot more major sports to follow than the Swedes. Canadian/American football, baseball, and basketball are WAY more popular in Canada than in Sweden. Thus, its not fair to point to Sweden and say "soccer is their #1 sport, yet look at the hockey players they produce." Because its pretty much Soccer and Hockey and that's it in Sweden. In Canada, the pie is sliced into more pieces, leaving less hockey focused development than some would think.
This is just so wrong.
You don't even know what kind of different sports they play in Sweden.
Yeah Canadians got "The Major Sports". In Sweden there are just much more like floorball, handball, volleyball, skiing, swimming, track and field...
And because the pie is sliced into more pieces in Sweden, they produce better players. It doesn't harm your hockey skills to play also handball, floorball and soccer. That makes you special player. It's not "I play only hockey"
In my opinion Sweden has the best system and culture to produce tons of good young players.
This thread pretty much sums up HFboards. What could have been a interesting thread, is instead turned into a "my country vs. your country". Pretty much like every thread on this forum turns into a "my favorite player is better then your favorite player..." or "my team is better then your team."
It never fails. Start a thread about a specific team, player, country or anything. And in a couple of replies, the thread will take a nosedive and turn into a measuring contest.
You don't even know what kind of different sports they play in Sweden.
Yeah Canadians got "The Major Sports". In Sweden there are just much more like floorball, handball, volleyball, skiing, swimming, track and field...
And because the pie is sliced into more pieces in Sweden, they produce better players. It doesn't harm your hockey skills to play also handball, floorball and soccer. That makes you special player. It's not "I play only hockey"
In my opinion Sweden has the best system and culture to produce tons of good young players.
Sweden has swimming and track and field as major sports?
Sweden has swimming and track and field as major sports?
Yes. Youth participation is high and TV ratings for larger international events are very solid. Athletics is arguably the most popular individual sport in the country.
I don't really care about this "Sweden vs Canada" thing. I'm from Örnsköldsvik, so obviously to me you outsider Swedes are just dragging the "citizen-to-NHL player" ratio down.
Yes. Youth participation is high and TV ratings for larger international events are very solid. Athletics is arguably the most popular individual sport in the country.
I don't really care about this "Sweden vs Canada" thing. I'm from Örnsköldsvik,so obviously to me you outsider Swedes are just dragging the "citizen-to-NHL player" ratio down.
Huh? How do you spell that?
I hope we have an honest Swedish mod here because it looks like you could be calling us names under false pretenses here.
Don't play with my intelligence! I don't have much left.
I stopped reading after the first page of this thread because I was already laughing too hard...
Sweden seemingly has a great developmental system...so does Canada, so does Russian...shouldn't forget Finland either
The genetic lottery produces potentially good athletes in every country, the percentage of them that develop to play a certain sport is dependant on numerous factors including the popularity of certain sports, the income required to play, their familial expectations etc etc
this really isn't worth arguing about...
what is more interesting is the different styles of play that different countries develop (i.e., Russia doesn't seem to produce as many good defensive prospects, but the offensive skill sets vastly outstrip canada's)
So much respect for Sweden. I'm Canadian and I am and always will be proud of my country but you'll never hear any bias against the Swedes from me. Good players. Good people.
Sweden overhauled its development system after the loss to Belarus in 2002 (at least, that's when I thought it was, it might have been a little later), putting a renewed emphasis on skill development. There were a few years there where Sweden was really lean on high-end talent, and the thought of multiple Swedes being taken in the first round was hard to imagine.
Sweden is finally starting to see the products of that overhaul, starting with Backstrom and going from there to guys like Landeskog, Hedman, Larsson, OEL, and Zibanejad. Finland is doing some tweaking to its youth system as a result of Sweden, IIRC, and I think the Czechs and Slovaks could take a few lessons from them, too, but there are too many egos in those programs to develop good players consistently.
Norway just hasn't invested the money in infrastructure and coaching. Nobody wants to sponsor a hockey club, so the sport doesn't get as much exposure there. That's the only reason I can really think of for the sport not being bigger there.
Not bad for a country where most of the kids choose to play football.
Very true so how come Sweden doesn't produce many great soccer players? Denmark for example has half the population of Sweden and is light years ahead of them.
Whomever is in charge for Swedish hockey should be hired by Swedish soccer.
Sweden definitely has a ton of good players (probably the next most after Canada, ahead of the US IMO), but it's been a while since they had an elite superstar that could compete with the likes of Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin and Stamkos.
IIRC, Alfredsson was the last Swedish forward to score 100 points and Lidstrom is an first-ballot HHOF defenseman, but where are the next generation of great Swedish players? Karlsson looks promising, but he could also become another Mike Green.
Very true so how come Sweden doesn't produce many great soccer players? Denmark for example has half the population of Sweden and is light years ahead of them.
Whomever is in charge for Swedish hockey should be hired by Swedish soccer.
What world are you living in?
Quote:
Originally Posted by PoundCake
I only skimmed the thread, but did anyone have a good answer why Norway doesn't really produce NHL players?
Also, tip of the had to all the young players from Sweden. Gonna be a good team for the Olympics.
I don't think hockey is very popular in Norway. They're just skiing there...
Sweden definitely has a ton of good players (probably the next most after Canada, ahead of the US IMO), but it's been a while since they had an elite superstar that could compete with the likes of Crosby, Ovechkin, Malkin and Stamkos.
IIRC, Alfredsson was the last Swedish forward to score 100 points and Lidstrom is an first-ballot HHOF defenseman, but where are the next generation of great Swedish players? Karlsson looks promising, but he could also become another Mike Green.
lundqvist is a hart candidate and came into the league the same year as crosvechkin. so i guess there's your answer.
none of the younger crop has hit the heights of stamkos yet. but of all players drafted after '05, no canadian other than stamkos himself has either, and you could argue that backstrom and karlsson have been at roughly the same level as anyone else (toews, tavares, etc.)
