Maybe the International Ice Hockey Federation needs someone like Lou Dobbs to take up its cause.
CNN's high-profile political commentator has long been an outspoken champion of a more restrictive immigration policy, something the IIHF argues would improve the quality of the game both in North America and overseas.
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| Ilya Kovalchuk, now 23, has been in the NHL since he was 18. (Getty Images) |
The result, according to the federation, is that locally bred athletes are prevented from filling jobs they should have, while the majority of European players face a greater likelihood of failure and leave their domestic leagues suffering the consequences of a diminished product.
"NHL clubs sign too many European players of marginal impact who go on to play insignificant roles in the NHL," said the report, which suggested the percentage of Europeans on NHL team rosters should be scaled back to 20 from the current 30.
"Such players take an NHL or minor league spot that could be filled with a North American player of equal value while the European player in question is a significant loss for his European club."
Headed by IIHF official Szymon Szemberg, the report looked at the period between 2000 and 2006, when 621 European players were drafted. It concluded that 62.5 percent of them had marginal value because they were either frequent healthy scratches or spent most of the time in the minor leagues, making them costly and ineffective for North American organizations that pay transfer fees for them.
Using a 1 to 5 grading scale that had superstar types such as Jaromir Jagr and Peter Forsberg at the top and players who spent their careers in the minors at the bottom, the study maintained that everyone would be better off if North American teams -- including those at the junior level in Canada that import Europeans kids looking to acclimate themselves before they are draft eligible -- would refrain from bringing over players until they are much closer to being NHL-ready.
"Who's to say when that is?" asked agent Jay Grossman, whose stable of European clients includes Atlanta superstar Ilya Kovalchuk, an NHLer at age 18. "I can tell you from years of experience, some are ready to play at 17 and some are not ready until they're 27.
"For you to draw a line that arbitrarily determines when they are ready is unfair to the player. It should be based upon the opportunities open and available to you."
San Jose Sharks general manager Doug Wilson agreed that player decisions have to be made on a case-by-case basis. The Sharks have been one of the NHL's most successful organizations in recent years when it comes to developing players, and he said one reason is its sense about the most appropriate time to take control of a player's development.
"We factor in where a player is whether it's in Europe, in college or in junior and we make a determination on whether they are physically and mentally ready to come out," Wilson said. "When we get our hands on people, it's because we think we make them better, especially under this (collective bargaining agreement) system where younger players are going to play sooner than they might have in the past."
Wilson declined to comment specifically on the report, but another general manager who asked not to be quoted said it was clearly designed to help European federations protect their turf rather than with the players' best interests in mind.
