Importance of Nationality on your roster
Alright, I'm a diehard hockey fan through and through. Originally from Sault Ste. Marie and now living in Australia, I still watch and follow the NHL as much as possible 
Now, something that is often overlooked is the Nationalities of the players on each team.
Let's look at the Cup winners the past few years
08 Wings -- 12 Canadian players
07 Ducks -- 18 Canadian players (Defense was entirely Canadian!!!)
06 Canes -- 14 Canadian players
05 !%$!$#%%*^#%& lockout
04 Lightning -- 15 Canadian players
03 Devils -- 16 Canadian players
02 Wings -- 11 Canadian players
I think the trend is quite evident.... now of course people can argue all they want but I am showing the facts!!! The wings this year have more Swedes than Canadians (8-7)
Believe it or not, the fact that they have so few Canadian players leads me to believe that they will not win the Cup this year.
I know many people are going to argue with me over this statistic so I am going to through a couple points out there. In Canada, every kid who plays hockey dreams of hoisting the Stanley Cup... it's like the goal of your life to oneday win the Cup. It means more than anything and kids will say that they don't care about the money (blah blah blah) and that winning Lord Stanley's Cup is the most important thing to them. Now, let's travel over towards Europe. Is the NHL popular over there??? Not really... they have their own leagues in their own country's that have their own championships. The newspapers and media will focus on the country's league and only the superstar players in the NHL that are from their home country. Who wins/loses in the NHL isn't the primary focus, so the youth who grow up loving the sport of hockey don't get the overwhelming coverage of the Stanley Cup that Canadian Youth do.
Let's look at this the opposite way around now.... In Canada how popular is soccer??? Pretty damn popular when you look at the numbers of youth who play. However, how many of these youth one day dream of hoisting the World Cup??? Hmmmm... ya, when is that tournament on again? In Europe, it is the dream of the youth to win the world cup.. soccer means so much over there and it is there number 1 sport in most European countries. So that's what the kids desire to strive for when they play soccer. They see themselves scoring the winning goal in the final Match etc. etc....
So what am I getting at with all of this.... it all boils down to passion. Who wants it more, what keeps the fire in your heart burning, what drives you the most etc. etc. How many European players have you seen with tears in their eyes after being eliminated? You don't. Even look at the skates around the rink when each player goes around holding the cup... you can just see the dreams come to life in Canadian player's eyes... oh and how many Europeans have you seen cry after winning the Cup?? The Playoffs are draining mentally and physically... playing your heart out every 2 days for up to 2 months with some games going 4,5,6 periods of hockey... even 7 in one game last year. The best teams are the ones who have the individuals that don't feel exhaustion, they don't care about exhaustion, they play with broken legs (Yzerman), because winning the Cup will fulfill their dreams from when they were 5 years old.
Now, something that is often overlooked is the Nationalities of the players on each team.
Let's look at the Cup winners the past few years
08 Wings -- 12 Canadian players
07 Ducks -- 18 Canadian players (Defense was entirely Canadian!!!)
06 Canes -- 14 Canadian players
05 !%$!$#%%*^#%& lockout
04 Lightning -- 15 Canadian players
03 Devils -- 16 Canadian players
02 Wings -- 11 Canadian players
I think the trend is quite evident.... now of course people can argue all they want but I am showing the facts!!! The wings this year have more Swedes than Canadians (8-7)
Believe it or not, the fact that they have so few Canadian players leads me to believe that they will not win the Cup this year.
I know many people are going to argue with me over this statistic so I am going to through a couple points out there. In Canada, every kid who plays hockey dreams of hoisting the Stanley Cup... it's like the goal of your life to oneday win the Cup. It means more than anything and kids will say that they don't care about the money (blah blah blah) and that winning Lord Stanley's Cup is the most important thing to them. Now, let's travel over towards Europe. Is the NHL popular over there??? Not really... they have their own leagues in their own country's that have their own championships. The newspapers and media will focus on the country's league and only the superstar players in the NHL that are from their home country. Who wins/loses in the NHL isn't the primary focus, so the youth who grow up loving the sport of hockey don't get the overwhelming coverage of the Stanley Cup that Canadian Youth do.
Let's look at this the opposite way around now.... In Canada how popular is soccer??? Pretty damn popular when you look at the numbers of youth who play. However, how many of these youth one day dream of hoisting the World Cup??? Hmmmm... ya, when is that tournament on again? In Europe, it is the dream of the youth to win the world cup.. soccer means so much over there and it is there number 1 sport in most European countries. So that's what the kids desire to strive for when they play soccer. They see themselves scoring the winning goal in the final Match etc. etc....
So what am I getting at with all of this.... it all boils down to passion. Who wants it more, what keeps the fire in your heart burning, what drives you the most etc. etc. How many European players have you seen with tears in their eyes after being eliminated? You don't. Even look at the skates around the rink when each player goes around holding the cup... you can just see the dreams come to life in Canadian player's eyes... oh and how many Europeans have you seen cry after winning the Cup?? The Playoffs are draining mentally and physically... playing your heart out every 2 days for up to 2 months with some games going 4,5,6 periods of hockey... even 7 in one game last year. The best teams are the ones who have the individuals that don't feel exhaustion, they don't care about exhaustion, they play with broken legs (Yzerman), because winning the Cup will fulfill their dreams from when they were 5 years old.
