Continental Divide

On Tuesday, the topic at the World Hockey Summit was the happenings between the NHL (and rather North America hockey in general) and Europe in terms of some teams "over fishing" the European leagues in terms of talent and plucking the home-country leagues of talent, especially in terms of their junior leagues.

This ideal of "over fishing" was brought to life by Slavomir Lener's presentation about the how the Czech and Slovak juniors league have had their talent taken away by some agents luring them to North America to play in the Canadian Hockey League or even the NHL. Lener is the director of the national teams in the Czech Republic and showed that with the performance in the World Juniors and how the Czechs haven't been on a WJC podium in five years. Also, he stated that NHL GMs are noticing that the talent that was there like Jaromir Jagr and Marian Gaborik are being turned out much anymore, which....I don't know how that's the fault of developing in North America, but whatever. The main point is that Lener said because of the players leaving their home country early, the never develop into what they could because they're lured away by the allure of the NHL and North American hockey in general.

While, Lener does have a point, the fact of the matter is that I don't see how players migrating from Europe to North America is a big fault to the country's standing in the World tournaments. Regardless of where they are playing, they are still going to be of their nationality and still play for their country. If it's a philosophical thing between playing in North America and then for your home country-- that I can understand due to the different schools of thought each coach has when it comes to players. However, the CHL still has a rule that only two imports can be on a team, while the NHL has to deal with a transfer issue when it comes to getting players out of a contract in their home country's league.

Yet, why should the CHL be ran down because of the fact that they give the exposure and training for the next step, which is the NHL?? If anything, the model they have should be taken by these junior leagues in Europe and maybe implemented in some ways over others. It doesn't seem like Sweden and Finland have issues of their junior leagues being completely run down with the CHL looming overhead. Maybe it has nothing to do with North America's intrigue, but just the lack of structure in the leagues over in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Plus, you have other countries, like Switzerland, who have some guys in the CHL and even in the pro leagues in their country and succeeding in the junior ranks; so I don't know what's going on with the Czechs, but it's nothing to do with the North American game or not "fully developing."

Also on Tuesday, Rene Fasel of the IIHF was a bit on the heel side of things on this, by going on to say that the NHL won't get a division in Europe while he is sitting as the head of the IIHF. Fasel also said that the NHL being in Sochi Olympics is a must.

As far the the Sochi Olympics goes, I think it's a formality; to be honest. I totally agree that having the NHLers in Russia playing-- especially with Alex Ovechkin already saying he's going and has the blessing of his owner, so why not send the rest of them??

As far the NHL division, it's kind of a preemptive strike against the NHL, who is holding their Premiere series in Europe, maybe scouting out the territory. And why should the NHL want to go to Europe, aside from more money given to the league and teams. The teams are out of the control and if they are going over to Europe to have another 10-12 leagues, that would thin out the talent to the point where it'd be unbearable. If anything, the trips to Europe or less about scouting the territory, but to give the people a look at live action they wouldn't be able to see unless they wanted to drop a nice sum of cash to not only travel there, get shelter, and then find tickets. This way, it's closer with some decent teams and decent action.

And in the end, I don't think the NHL European division would be the best for the league or for Europe. The fact these countries and territories have their home leagues is something that would instill a bit of pride and there's no reason that the NHL should disrupt it. Even in North America, there's a lot of pride in the minors and some people who dislike the NHL because it messes with the minor leagues and leads to teams moving because of it.

For what it's worth, the state of hockey in Europe is something that should be looked at in some cases. When it comes to the Czech and Slovak leagues, that's a matter of getting better coaches or developers over there to teach these kids and actually develop them so that they can leave at 18 or even make those league desirable for the younger generation and be a pioneer of sort. The reason some kids leave is because of the fact they feel they're ready to get to their next level and aren't content with staying at home and maybe getting stuck because they waited to long. You can't fault other leagues or what-have-you for the shortcomings of your own program.

World Hockey Summit Situation

It was announced on Wednesday that Daniel Alfredsson would lead up the leadership team for the Molson Canadian World Hockey Summit, which will be held in Toronto in August 23rd through the 26th. Alfredsson will be alongside Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke, women's hockey pioneer Hayley Wickenheiser, and Lightning GM Steve Yzerman. Two Canadians, an American, and a Swede. Not exactly the world, but that's neither here nor there. The whole agenda will be on growing and developing the game in every facet on every level.

Topics include skill development in younger players, what can be grown off of the 2010 Men's Olympic Games, development amongst juniors while comparing the North American and European way of developing players, and long-term agenda when it comes to world tournaments through the IIHF. However, the two topics that I'm interested in learning from will be on the development of women's hockey and the growth of participation of the game.

For the women's hockey, the key will be on what's going to happen with the development of the game. Jacques Rogge of the IOC demanded that women's hockey needed to get better or else it may see it's demise in the Olympics. While it's an obvious statement-- seeing as how Canada and the US are dominate in that field; the other countries don't seem to be developing as quickly. While Sweden did have a glimmer of hope for a second, they seemed to have decline a bit over the years; which makes it really a two-team race through and through. However, I don't know how much the other countries will be willing to give to their women's national teams. Plus, with really not many options after college; the desire to actually give money for the glass ceiling of sport is something most Olympic contingents won't be keen on giving to when they can be distributed somewhere else. While there are two professional leagues in Canada, the publicity and development of them is something that seem to be suspect at best. The suggests that come out of it will be interesting, as will the reaction by some of these competiting nations when it comes to developing their programs in one way or another.

The other topic about participation is something that is going to be probably one where lay-people will be concerned and intrigued about. Hockey, for the most part, is one of the most expensive sports at the youth level. Outside of the equipment; parents have to deal with rink fees, league fees, and traveling around the residing areas to worry about. With the tough economic times, most of the people can't afford to deal with all of that; therefore while a kid can be put into hockey-- the longevity of their career may be short lived. Plus, with all the gear becoming more and more high-tech, the price tag will continue to go higher, rather than leveling out to affordability. Those that do move on have to deal with the competitive nature of travel teams, high school teams, junior teams, or college teams; which some may or may not lose the zest for the game if they get cut one too many times. While North America and some of Europe won't be a problem, I'm sure that many would like a deeper depth pool from all around the world and maybe find a gem in the last place thought of. Yet, that gem may not be able to deal with the pricing of it-- which I noted earlier.

While the idea of the summit is solid, the fact of the matter is that most of the public will be concerned mostly with the safety of the game and the development of the game. Other issues like transfers and most levels of hockey aren't going to be a hot-button issue outside of the fandom portion of people's psyche. The development and growth are going to be what people will practically thing about it, especially those who want to put or keep their kids into hockey. Plus, while the leadership doesn't have too much diversity; the panelist and representitives of the NHL, IIHF, Canadian Hockey League, and plenty more will give a nice variety of ideas-- or so one would hope. If the rhetoric is the same from each portion, the odds are that not much will get done and we'll be in the same spot when the next summit comes around.

The odd part about this is that media and fans aren't really given much of a voice on the prospective panel of things. You would think for a game who utilizes social networking and rely heavily on the media as much as hockey does-- the voice would be more prevalent and there would be some kind of inclusion of these such ideals rather than leaving them out of panels, while making them pay $450 CDN per person for only 500 people. Especially when most of the issues will be a buzz in the blogospheres and things like that-- maybe they would open up some aspect of their summit to new media. Granted, it's still early in the announcement process for this event; but I won't hold my breath about it.

It's been 11 years since the last summit in 1999, which basically dealt with the Canadian side of things. I guess the ideal of Canada being the end-all be all has leveled out to the believe that other nations may be able to give their two-cents in about all of this. It should be an interesting thing to look forward to, especially to see what, if anything, comes from all of this. If nothing else, it'll give people something to talk about right before the start of NHL training camps in mid-September.