Import draft on borrowed time?

[nivek_wahs]

http://gdrinnan.blogspot.com/


Thursday, August 7, 2008

Import draft on borrowed time?

It could be that one of the most contentious issues around major junior hockey is about to get blown up.
Don Campbell has an interesting story in the Ottawa Citizen dealing with the possibility of the OHL opting out of the CHL’s annual import draft. Should that happen, it really wouldn’t be a surprise.
There are a lot of people in major junior hockey who feel that agents are allowed to orchestrate this draft and that doesn’t sit at all well with many people. In case you haven’t noticed, league and team officials rarely have a kind word to say about player agents, and having to climb in bed with them in order to land European players – many of whom have never been seen on skates by team officials – doesn’t sit well with virtually all of them.
Major junior officials also are tired of having to jump through so many hoops in order to get players over here and many of those officials are wondering if it often isn’t more work than it’s worth.
At the same time, you have to wonder if the talent pool isn’t about to dry up, what with the advent of the Continental Hockey League. With that league and many others offering up a decent wage and more, how many European players are going to want to come over here to play major junior in the immediate future?
Should the OHL opt out, you know that Don Cherry will be the first to stand up and applaud. He has long let everyone know that he believes Canadian junior leagues should be for Canadian players.
On the other side are those who feel that major junior operators are in the entertainment business and owe it to their fans to put the best possible product on the ice.
Anyway . . . if you want to give Cambell’s story a read it’s right here.

[nivek_wahs]

Here's the story from the citizen........

http://www.faceoff.com/hockey/nhlnews/story.html?id=953b2769-6208-4afe-b0e9-8da56fcb3932



OHL might dump European draft

Don Campbell
Canwest News Service

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

OTTAWA - The Ontario Hockey League might become the first junior league in Canada to close the door on drafting European prospects.

The league's board of governors is expected to table a motion this week to strike its participation in the June import draft of European players. Each of the 60 teams in the Canadian Hockey League, of which the OHL is a member, is currently allowed two European-drafted players. The other two member leagues of the CHL are the Western Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Three days of summer meetings began Wednesday in Collingwood, Ont., and the import draft is expected to highlight the agenda Friday, the final day of the pre-season meetings.

"It's just getting to be a difficult proposition," Ottawa 67's coach and general manager Brian Kilrea said Wednesday. "Some GMs and owners feel they are being manipulated by the entire process.

"There's times when a team feels that a certain player is available only to find out at a later date, that magically almost, that player is under contract to a team (in Europe). An awful lot of teams are finding that players they thought are available end up not really being available.

"We brought a kid in and were told no problem. Next thing we knew there was a problem.

"I'm not going to say what we're going to do about the draft. But it's something that's going to get a lot of discussion. It's the biggest item on the agenda."

BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM

The 67's dressed two imports last season, both defencemen, and both from the Czech Republic.

Martin Paryzek scored four goals and 30 points while Radim Ostrcil, a Boston Bruins draft, had 13 assists.

Kilrea said Paryzek is scheduled to be at training camp later this month while Ostrcil will not return.

In June, Kilrea traded his first pick in the draft (19th overall) to Sault Ste, Marie, then drafted Kazakhstan left winger Yakov Vorobyov, 70th overall.

END OPTIONAL TRIM

Opponents to the import draft have long railed it eliminates too many positions in major junior hockey, which could easily be filled by North American skaters.

Don Cherry, when he ran the Mississauga IceDogs almost 10 years ago, refused to participate in the import draft for that very reason. Cherry felt Canadian junior hockey should develop Canadian talent as a priority.

Proponents say the presence of the imports raises the level of talent and draws new fans to junior hockey through a more worldly presence.

The draft did bring several high-profile Europeans to the league but not all have lasted. An example is Pavel Brendl, a standout with the Calgary Hitmen, a first-round draft pick the New York Rangers would just as soon forget about.

No one is certain what the OHL will decide. It's possible the draft could be dropped altogether or that player eligibility rules be changed in some manner.

"I think a number of people feel too many (European) kids are playing junior," said Derek Holmes, a longtime hockey agent who was among the first to send Canadians to play professionally in Europe and also recommend Europeans to junior teams here. His experience dates some 40 years.

"I don't agree with that," said Holmes. "I don't think two per team is too many.

"I think what happened is that some agents have got their hands on the kids and cooked up deals with certain teams and it's a case of the rich get richer. They think they can guarantee a player named Holmes or Smith goes to a certain team - that they will place him there.

"But I think it ads spice to things. I think for some teams that one payer can be the icing on the cake . . . they can get the one player who puts them in the Memorial Cup. I am anxious to see what they do."

There's also talk that the new Russian Super League, The Kontinental Hockey League, will eventually form its own youth development league, similar to Canadian junior hockey. That might even make the import draft here a moot point.

Such a league will likely help the Russians keep some of their brighter young stars at home, rather than seeing them leave to play in the CHL, which is viewed as a good adjustment step for Russian players to take en route to the NHL.



Back home, meanwhile, the OHL will also discuss some minor rule changes.

One is involving players who leave the penalty box having to tag up on their own side of the centre red line to be on-side. Currently, players can leave the box and head straight to the opposing blue-line to set up for a breakaway.

The new rule would eliminate potential advantages at some of the rinks where the penalty box is not in the same location as in other rinks.

A second rule change proposed would allow players in their own defensive end to continue playing even after having their helmet knocked off. The current rule requires players who lose their helmet to skate directly to their bench, a rule will severely handicaps defending teams, particularly when they are short-handed.

Ottawa Citizen

dcampbell@thecitizen.canwest.com
© Ottawa Citizen 2008

[HURRICANE'S ROCK]

I for one hope they keep it as is. Yes our league is supposed to and does develop Canadian kids. But don't you think playing with the europeans makes every player in the leagues that much better. Instead of some plodding 19th and 20th ranked North Am player holding and clutching, the other 18 players get to try to stop players like Mikeal Boedker, or score on Juha Metsola etc. It makes our league far better in the long run, more challenging for the players and way more entertaining for the fans. Don Cherry as usual is short sighted and overly opinionated. The imports make the hockey better for all and those 2 North American players that don't make it don't belong in the CHL. Many teams already have very weak 3rd and 4th liners. Just think how bad most of the 4th lines will be without these imports.

[Big Torro]

I am on the side of eliminating the import draft. Yes, it does bring some skilled players to add to the CHL, but it also brings several that don't add value that a North American kid may fit the role. It helps with the talent pool of expanding leagues, but with these WHL franchises becoming such big business, the number of centres for opportunity to expand is becoming limited. With this will come a limit to expansion, therefore a limit to the number of teams and these holes left by the Europeans will easily be filled in the coming years by local North American talent.

[Hitmen1]

If the Q and OHL go through with this it won't be long until the WHL follows.

CHL Eliminating Import Draft? (http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=707619)

[Trav]

however they should change the way it's done, like having a spending limit on Euro's so that smaller market teams can get top end Euro's and if the agents don't like it then their players can't be selected.

[Bugsy]

I for one hope they keep it as is. Yes our league is supposed to and does develop Canadian kids. But don't you think playing with the europeans makes every player in the leagues that much better. Instead of some plodding 19th and 20th ranked North Am player holding and clutching, the other 18 players get to try to stop players like Mikeal Boedker, or score on Juha Metsola etc. It makes our league far better in the long run, more challenging for the players and way more entertaining for the fans. Don Cherry as usual is short sighted and overly opinionated. The imports make the hockey better for all and those 2 North American players that don't make it don't belong in the CHL. Many teams already have very weak 3rd and 4th liners. Just think how bad most of the 4th lines will be without these imports.

Yes, we all know how good Metsola is.

Anyway, I'm glad the OHL is doing it first. If it's good for them, then the WHL can try it out. Personally, I like it. Without the import draft, we wouldn't have gotten Fomitchev, Brendl, Sjostrom, Petterson. It's been good to us Hitmen fans.

[wango tango]

until the import draft becomes a legitimate draft, instead of an agent brokered lottery than i say get rid of it.

[WHEATMAN]

What they should do, Is make the Euro Draft, opt in only, that way whoever is taken has already committed to major junior, I don't see a problem with that.

[Bugsy]

What they should do, Is make the Euro Draft, opt in only, that way whoever is taken has already committed to major junior, I don't see a problem with that.

That's a great idea!

[Chief Jeff]

I think the potential loss of talent from losing the Euros can be more than made up with the steady influx of American players, especially from California. The leagues there are getting better and better, and these kids don't have college hockey in their backyard like east coast and midwest players do. Look no further than the Chiefs...They had 6 Americans last year.

[AMSRocker]

What they should do, Is make the Euro Draft, opt in only, that way whoever is taken has already committed to major junior, I don't see a problem with that.
I don't know. That still gives room for sharp shooting the draft. :skeptical
I'd have to say do away with it to avoid any trouble. All or nothing if you will.

Keep it to US and Canadian boys. There is a ton of great players in the US mid-west that goes largly untapped. CA is putting some players into the WHL system now. If the WHL started to push thoes markets harder they might start putting more boys into the system... Thoughts???

[Trav]

if teams are having problems with imports then don't pick any, simple as that. No team is required to have two imports so I don't know why some teams would be complaining.

[grainbear]

I think rather then getting rid of the draft we should only allow approved agents. As part of their approval would be clauses stating that any player they represent will play for the team they are drafted by. Further, It should not be a monatary issue , this of course is a business but the key concept here is development and exposure for the agents players. It is not a situation in which an agent should be able to fill his pocket. a key motivator particularly for the Russian teams would be to deny them the revenues that their junior teams receive when they play against our selected top juniors. Also, while we are at it lets go after the so called US elite program where they very rarely look at US players who go the major junior route rather then their program.

[Scout]

with Gregg Drinnan

Monday, August 11, 2008

WHL and the import draft
By GREGG DRINNAN

Amid talk that the three major junior hockey leagues are wanting to at least review the CHL import draft, the Kamloops Blazers are set to welcome Slovakian defenceman Michal Siska to town today.
Siska, 18, was selected with the 30th pick in the 2008 import draft. The Blazers had taken centre Dalibor Bortnak, another Slovak, with the 18th pick.
Bortnak is playing with the Slovakian under-18 team at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament that opens today in Piestany, Slovakia, and Breclav, Czech Republic. He had two assists in a 6-2 loss to the United States on Sunday.
Blazers general manager Craig Bonner said last night that Bortnak is scheduled to arrive in Kamloops on Aug. 20, two days before training camp opens.
Each CHL team is permitted to have two imports on their roster. Bortnak and Siska will fill the holes left by the departures of Finnish right-winger Juuso Puustinen and Slovakian left-winger Ivan Rohac.
“There’s arguments both ways,” Bonner said of the ongoing debate about the import draft. “I understand the work that goes into it. And there’s no doubt . . . with our two guys coming in, it’s a mystery. I’ve never seen them play. I’m going off the agents’ word and hopefully they can play.
“On the other hand, we’ve got 22 teams in the league now . . . is our talent pool getting watered down? Most teams generally have one solid Euro and sometimes two. You take two players out of the mix and you’ve got to look for two more impact guys.”
Bonner signed with the Blazers after six seasons with the Vancouver Giants, who won the 2007 Memorial Cup.
“From a selfish point of view,” he said, “Michal Repik and Mario Bliznak were big parts of us winning the Memorial Cup. For me to say I don’t want Europeans . . . I don’t think I could say that now.”
It isn’t likely to come to that, at least not in the immediate future. OHL teams discussed the draft at the league’s annual meeting in Ottawa over the weekend and decided to make their concerns known to the CHL.
QMJHL president Gilles Courteau is on record as saying changes have to be made and that perhaps it’s time to limit teams to one import or even none.
WHL commissioner Ron Robison doesn’t sound like he is ready to push things that far.
“We’ve had ongoing discussion with the CHL at the board level,” Robison said, “and with our general managers over the years. I think everyone feels it’s time to review the matter in one form or another. We’ve felt that it’s been a good complement to our Canadian talent base and with 22 clubs we feel we need the sources of talent that are out there.
“On the other hand, we agree with what Ontario and Quebec are saying. It’s time to review the system for sure.”
Robison added that he is convinced that WHL teams have room for “at least one” import player.
“But,” he said, “I think the time has come when we should review it and review the system of drafting as well.”
OHL teams expressed concerns about the ability of player agents to manipulate the draft.
“I think relationships are important,” Bonner said, “and as much as sometimes dealing with agents can be tiresome and a lot of work, that’s their job. They are representing players.
“Agents are like anyone else . . . if you’re honest and up front with them, you create a relationship and those relationships pay off. And where they pay off is in the import draft.”
JUST NOTES: The Blazers hockey school is on the ice at Interior Savings Centre this week. Among the veteran players teaching at hockey school are G Justin Leclerc, D Jordan Rowley, D Kurt Torbohm, F Mark Hall, F Alex Rodgers, F Tyler Shattock and F Matt Wray. . . . The Blazers open training camp Aug. 22 with freshmen and veterans reporting. The intrasquad game is scheduled for Aug. 26.

Scout