Euro-update

[ch_nl]

First, I was thinking about goaltenders. Did you know that there's only 5 Swedish goaltenders in the Swedish Elite leauge? Most of the goaltenders are from Finland.

The top goaltenders in Sweden are theese:

Johan Holmqvist, Brynäs IF. Selected by the Rangers 175th overall and has played two seasons in the NHL. Swedish. Ranked 5th among goaltenders from Sweden. Could get the chance in the NHL again.

Karol Krizan, MoDo. Undrafted from Slovakia. Played in the olympics for Slovakia. MoDo wanted to send him home during preseason but the keept him. Right now the hottest goalie in Europe. Scored a goal last night. I expect him to be drafted next time.

Daniel "Hento" Henriksson. Färjestads BK. Swedish. Starter for Färjestads BK and the mentor for our own Chrstopher Heino-Lindberg. Ranked fourth among Swedish goaltenders after Lundkvist, Tellqvist and Liv. I don't see him becoming a starter in the NHL but still good. Could be a backup for any team.

Tero Leinonen. Luleå Hockey. From finland. His second year in Sweden. Born in 1975 and was a late bloomer. Maybe not NHL-calibre but any goalie from Finland can turn out to be great in the NHL.

Fredrik Norrena. Linköpings HC. You saw him in the Olympics for team Finland. He's great. Selected by Tampa 213th overall and to me it's a mystery why he hasn't been given the chance. He could be the next finnish starter in the NHL. He's that good.

Stefan Liv. Swedish with Polish roots. HV71. Swedens third goalie in Torino. Selected by the Red Wings 102 overall and will travel to Detroit next season. Was ranked ahead of Lundqvist for a time but can go into slumbering streaks from time to time. Still he's NHL calibre.

Mika Oksa. Finnish. Timrå IK. Middle of the pack. Good but don't expect to see him over seas.

Tommy Salo. Frölunda Indians. Swedish. You know him. But all of the goalies ahead are ranked better than him. That says something doesn't it? And he has one of the best defence squad in front of him...

Petri Vehanen. Finnish. Mora IK. Made the playoffs and he has been a factor. Not a star but still good.

Johan Backlund, Leksands IF. Swedish. Young and promising. Born in 1981 but undrafted. I haven't seen him play that much but I'd say his equal to Heino-Lindberg.

Markus Korhonen. Split the duties in Brynäs where the top goalie Holmqvist plays. From Finland. Gart Snow was his backup last season in St Petersburgh in the Russian leauge.

Rastislav Stana. Slovakia. Södertälje SK. Was great last season and along with Mikael Samuelsson he was the reason why Södertälje made the playoffs. Selected by the Capitals 193 overall and has played junior hockey with Mose Jaw Warriors, Calgary Hitmen and Richmond Renegades. Played 3 seasons with Capitals AHL team Portland Pirates and then one season as Kölzig's backup in Capitals. Born in 1980 and ranked 4th among Slovakian goaltenders.

Teemu Lassila. Djurgårdens IF. Finnish. Selected by Nashville 177 overall. Just 22 years old and good friend with Mikko Koivu. Not a great season but he plays for a poor team. Expect him to be in the NHL in a few years.

There you have it. 6 of 13 goaltenders are from Finland. 2 are from Slovakia and only 5 are from Sweden. I think that says something about finnish goaltenders. Also notice that there's a bunch of finnish goaltenders that played in Sweden before the went to the NHL.

Mikka Kiprusoff was a star in AIK and had Fredrik Norrena as a backup in Sweden. He was the best goalie in Sweden and noone here was surprised when he became one of the best in the NHL.

Martin Geber, not finnish but from Switzerland was the best goalie in Sweden during the 2002 season and same thing goes for him. Not surpised that he's one of the better in the NHL.

Reinhard Divis also played in Sweden but he was never a star here and isn't so in the NHL either. But just another goalie that made it to the NHL via Sweden.

Vesa Toskala from Finland went to the NHL from Färjestad and they replaced him with Martin Gerber.

I don't know if anyone cares to read this but it's a summary of goaltenders in Europe and my point is that many great goaltenders from Europe comes to the NHL via Sweden and at the same time it slown the development of Swedish goaltender as it's much cheaper for Swedish clubs to buy goalies from Finland, Switzerland, Slovakia and Austria.

[Dutch_Habs_Fan]

Great story, it just shows that not only the NHL has so many Finnish Goaltenders, but also in other league's it's a Factor.

Goaltending is in their soul, very calm people as i know. F.A. Raikkonen the F1 driver isn't called the Iceman for nothing!

BTW i always liked Jarmo Myllys, great goaltender in the 90's for Finland!

Edited March 7, 2006 by Dutch_Habs_Fan

[ch_nl]

Jarmo Myllys was a one of the best players in Sweden with Luleå Hockey and hold a numbers of records for goaltenders in Sweden.

About the finns, sure they are calm but they are also biiter. If someone wants to look into the finnish mentality I suggest reading something by Arto Paasalinna. My favourite writer and I think "The year of the hare" should be found in North America (Or the netherlands).

[dark_faerie87]

Interesting post, nice insight into the goaltending situation in Sweden.

[ch_nl]

The playoffs in Sweden is about the begin.

HV71 won the regular season. Timrå and Djurgården's seasons are over as they missed the playoffs. Södertälje and Leksand will have to play Kvalserien and win it if they don't want to be relegated to Allsvenskan.

HV71 - Mora

Andreas Karlsson former Atlanta Thrashers scored 55 points and won the scoring leauge. Other known players to the north americans are Mika Hannula who was on the team that won a gold medal for Sweden in Torino and has played for Dallas Stars. Captain Johan Davidsson was a big prospect once and has played for the Islanders and the Ducks. He was also recently married to finnish violinist and playboy girl Linda Lampenius but the got divorced. Stefan Liv is the goalie and mentioned in the first post of this thread and will likley play for the Red Wings next season. Per Gustafsson former Senators, Panthers and Maple Leafs lead their defence along with Fredrik Olausson who had a long NHL career with the Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings.

Mora who took the last playoff spot has + stats on HV71 this season has 3 minor leaugers on their team. Eric Beudoin, Ross Lupuschuck and Eric Johansson.

Frölunda - Brynäs

Frölunda has Håkan Loob trophy winner Tomi Kallio (Most goals in regular season). Kallio may be to small for the old NHL but I think he's worth a new chance as he has been the best scorer for two years in Sweden. He's played with the Flyers, Blue Jackets and Thrashers. Veteran Niklas Andersson formern Nordiques, Islanders, Sharks, Predators and Flames is the heart and sould of the team that will try to defend the title from last year. Magnus Kahnberg is another reliable goalscorer and drafted by the Hurricanes. Born in 1980 so he could be in the NHL anytime soon. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist twin brother Joel centers the third line and and could get a shot as a grinder within the Rangers organisation. Tom Koivisto former St Louis Blues is on the blue line with Torino-winner Ronnie Sundin who played one NHL game with the Rangers in 1997 and Johnny Oduya. Oduya is the olnly player along with Henrik Zetterberg that has played for Tre Kronor before he played in Elitserien. Born in 1981 by the Capitals and has been the bef defenceman in Elitserien this season. Jason Krog is with Frölunda as well just like PJ Axelsson's younger brother Anton drafted by Detroit. Anti-Jussi Niemi is another with NHL experince on the blue line. Has played with the Ducks. Tommy Salo should be well known and finaly they have a former habs on their squad. Johan Witehall. Frölund has a great mix and tons of experice. I see them as favourites.

Brynäs had a wierd season. First they where doing great and this years top rookie Niclas Bäckström was compared to Peter Forsberg. Then they came into a slumber and fired 3 of their top players. After that things started to go their way and the got a playoffs spot. One of the hottest team. Tommy Sjödin Elitseriens oldest players (41 years) is one of the best defenceman. He once played with the Minnesota North Stars and Quebec Nordiques in the early 90's. They also have former Montrealer Andreas Dackell.

Linköping - Luleå

Linköping has in a short peiod of time established themselves as one of the top clubs. Tony Mårtensson should be the most known player as he played one season with the Ducks. The have a great mix and a lot of players that could be in the NHL in a few years. Tim Eriksson, Fredrik Norrena, Andreas Holmqvist, Jonas Soling and Fredrik Emwall. Shane Willis is alos on the team.

Luleå with former NHL coach Slavomir Lener. Luleå is by tradition the most physical team and all Swedish "power-players" comes from Luleå. Tomas Holmström, Mattias Öhlund and Mikael Renberg to name a few. With Lener as coach they also play hockey as a NHL-team with two top lines and one checking line and a fourth line to give the other lines some rest. Mikael Renberg is on the team and their captain. Jaroslav Obsut who has played for the Avs and Blues leads their defence. Lubos Bartecko should also be familiar as he has played with the Blues and Thrashers.

Färjestad - MoDo

Jörgen Jönsson's team. Håkan Loob is the general manager and former Habs Jonas Höglund is on the team. Montreal goaltender prospect Christopher Henio-Lindberg is the backup and Sheldon Souray was on the team last sesaon. Montreal connection? Other former NHL:ers are Pavel Patera (Stars and Wild) and Richard Wallin (Wild).

MoDO has the best goalie in Karol Krizan. They also have a lot of former NHL players. Per Svartvadet, Mattias Timander, Hans Jonsson, Andreas Salomonsson, Rastislav Pavlikovsky and Jan Pardavy.