Quote:
Originally Posted by Dorkmaster
You don't see very many picks from central europe because as a whole, drafting out of central europe has dropped big time. There aren't even that many Russian players in the league right now.
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But that could make it a good place to find dark horse...possibly, maybe. While the talent pool might be smaller, if fewer people are scouting them, it could mean that you find someone others might not even consider. Who knows... the next Datsyuk could be waiting. I'm sure Detroit knew what they were doing.
I think back to when we got Nieuwendyk in the 2nd round, and players like Suter, Otto and Ranheim in later rounds because scouting the university and high school level players in the U.S was seen as fringe territory.
Although Sylvan had a good point about not holding Europeans rights forever these days, which makes the risk a bit bigger now.