Quote:
Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers
The breakdown actually makes perfect sense.
There are professional leagues overseas. Why would someone move to North America and learn a new language to play on the 4th line for their careers??
So the best come over for the money and glory.
And North Americans fill in the holes at the bottom.
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That. You can make a couple of million a year, tax free, in the KHL. Even in the Finnish league you can make something like 250k. Considering how short the career of a typical 4th liner is in the NHL, it's not necessarily worth it to toil in the AHL for a year or three making 60k and risking a career ending injury so that you MIGHT make 600K some day.
As for the tournaments, you can only play about 20 guys at a time. The other 400+ Canadian NHLers are only a pool to draw from, they dont actually matter when you play the games.
After that, you have to consider that every NHL player is somewhat competitive against any other NHLers. Being able to hold your own most of the time against the very best the opposition has to throw at you is basically the minimum requirement to make the league. If you can't do that, you're a defensive liability and likely quickly replaced.
Considering all that, the way Canada has dominated the best-on-best tournaments recently is actually quite remarkable and something you should be proud of. It shows that you haven't just had great players, but those players have come together to form great teams.