CHL European/Banned

[JMoney1988]

I saw an article in the Saskatoon's Star Phoenix this regarding CHL's decision to ban european goalies in 2014, I think this is a mistake, Am I mad, no just dissapointed, let's look at some overseas talent:

Anton Khudobin (currently competing with the Boston Bruins in the stanley cup finals)
Andrey Marakov (MVP in two seasons with the Saskatoon Blades, signed contract this spring)
Patrik Bartosak
Marek Langhammer
Patrik Polivka

The list goes on as well for the OHL and QMJHL, my point is all of these guys have became or will become quality goaltenders. The reason they are saying this is because of the lack of quality canadian goaltenders being produced in Canada. I enjoy watching overseas goalies play in this league, their talent is off the charts some nights. This is my opinion only, so feel free to comments on this matter.

Being from Saskatoon and watching the Saskatoon Blades, I enjoyed Andrey Marakov for 2 plus seasons, I think everyone did, I mean watching Bartosak play was awesome.
I'm thinking by 2017, they will ban all european skaters.

On my last note, when your team or someone else's team gets a european goalie, the exciting part is you don't know how they play and react to Canada.........

[Rebelsfan13]

I think this is a terrible mistake and the wrong way to go about fixing the issue which is developing Canadian goaltenders. By the time goalies have reached this level it is too late, and progams/fixes need to be implemented earlier to address the root issue. Besides how many of the current ELITE NHL European goaltenders have come from the CHL? Very few, most are being developed currently in Europe then coming here. If you want to look at another successful program you don't have to look far, just look south of the border and you can see that the US has done a great job of developing goalies. All you have to do is examine the effort they have made and the focus is at a much earlier age. Hockey Canada needs to take this approach and then allow fair competition to ensure the CHL has the best product it can ice!

[patsdude114]

This is the 1st step to getting euros out of the CHL all together it will happen in the next 5 to 10 yrs this is just step #1

[Trav]

This is the 1st step to getting euros out of the CHL all together it will happen in the next 5 to 10 yrs this is just step #1

They take out imports and I'm done with junior hockey. Rather see skilled imports then 4th line guys that suck. It's funny seeing hockey Canada blaming the euros for their own mess. Hockey Canada needs to face the fact that European countries r getting just as good as us. We r no longer the power house.

[SectionNDeserter]

There is something really strange about this whole announcement to me. The CHL, as well as it's individual leagues, are constantly making tweaks to rules governing them, anything from protected list rules, to rules about the number of games an underage player can play, and various other things. They do this without ANY sort of communication to the general public, ever.

I noticed the individual leagues making announcements on social media about the change recently, and thought to myself that it seemed rather strange. Why would a league full of teams, that are currently in the midst of a season ticket sales push, take time to announce something that is so negative? Why not just inform the teams and keep it low-key, like they do with EVERY OTHER CHANGE?

Is this a public 'shot across the bow' to other International tournament participants? Are they erroneously thinking that this will soften the blow of some sort of long-term goal they might have, of ridding the CHL of all non-North Americans? Or do they feel they are selling too many season ticket packages, and simply want to reduce that number?

[Trevor]

Even though this is a joint announcement, Hockey Canada is obviously pulling the strings on this one. And I see what the goal is from this decision.

Goaltending has been Canada's Achilles heel for the past few seasons at the World Juniors. Depending how you rank them, top 5 goalies in the NHL aren't Canadian. A Canadian goalie hasn't won the Vezina since Brodeur in 2008. In fact only 4 different Canadian goalies have won it in the last 20 years. Some won it multiple times though.

So I see why they are making this change. Goaltending isn't Canada's strong point and they're trying to address that. But banning Euro goalies won't change a thing.

Also for what its worth, in the dub this season there were 5 Euro goalies. But there were also 4 American goalies. I don't know what the numbers are for the O and Q. But while a American isn't an import, if developing Canadian goalies is what they're trying to do, shouldn't American goalies be banned as well??

[SectionNDeserter]

But while a American isn't an import, if developing Canadian goalies is what they're trying to do, shouldn't American goalies be banned as well??

The leagues added imports, and American teams years ago to expand the fan base and make more money. It is much easier for them to boot the import players out of the league than it would be to eliminate the American teams--that is some toothpaste that isn't going back in the tube.

[patsdude114]

Very few euro's now a days truly make a big impact on a team, the top euro's have no need to come over here anymore for exposure. We end up getting a bunch of mediocre euro's who for the most part are just depth players across the league. Don't get me wrong there are the odd euro star but for the most part they are few & far between.

I truly believe that in another 5-10 years there will be no more euro's at all in the CHL, its becoming a North American league. More & more American born players are popping up in our leagues each & every year.

I don't see the CHL banning euro goalies making a big difference in how Canadian goalies develop. It doesn't matter who the goalie is for Team Canada they feel the pressure cause its very well advertised that Canada's weakness is goaltending & they are playing to not screw up instead of just going out there to stop the puck like they normally do with there regular team. These are kids they will always feel that pressure when it comes to the bigger games in the medal rounds. Its just how it goes, we cant change it. Part of the problem is the unrealistic expectations Canadians across the country put on these kids each & every year. Gold or nothing is pretty much the concept.

[the flying moose]

So let me get this straight...Canadian goalies cannot compete with Euro goalies so instead of fixing the issue with Hockey Canada and making the Canadian goalies better to maximize the skill and put the best product on the ice possible, regardless of Canadian or European player, they decide to eliminate the competition altogether. LOL.

Hockey Canada has been left in the dust by Europeans and the Americans and is no longer the "top dog" in International hockey. They are being like the kid who is a poor sport, decides he doesn't want to be your friend anymore, and takes his ball and goes home.

[Trevor]

The leagues added imports, and American teams years ago to expand the fan base and make more money. It is much easier for them to boot the import players out of the league than it would be to eliminate the American teams--that is some toothpaste that isn't going back in the tube.

Completely agree. I'm not trying to make a case for eliminating American goalies, but trying to show that banning Euro goalies A)will not have the repercussions HC is hoping for and B) Doesn't really fix the problem they say it will in the first place because they still allow American tenders.