Changing the perception of German hockey
June 4, 2020
Germany's silver medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics two years ago was the most significant achievement in the country's ice hockey history.
One can argue that the tournament was a downgrade on the Sochi Games four years earlier or the 2010 Vancouver Games due to the lack of National Hockey League (NHL) players. Nonetheless, taking Russia to overtime in the gold-medal game was a significant feat that would have been unthinkable a few years earlier.
Also unthinkable would have been the idea of a German winning the Art Ross Trophy, the NHL's award for the top total-points scorer in the regular season. That's just what 24-year-old Leon Draisaitl (pictured above) of the Edmonton Oilers did in the coronavirus-shortened 2019-20 campaign.
The recent development of German hockey is drawing attention abroad too. In a Zoom call Draisaitl held with reporters last week, a couple of North American journalists asked him about the game in general in the Cologne native's homeland. Draisaitl rightly replied that the game in Germany is "trending in the right direction."
The next generation
More talented young Germans than ever are threatening to crack an NHL lineup and make an impact on the world's top hockey league.
The one arguably the closest to making it in the NHL is 19-year-old Moritz Seider. The big defenseman was selected sixth overall by the Detroit Red Wings in last year's NHL entry draft, making him just the second German-born and trained player ever to go in the top 10 — Edmonton picked Draisaitl third overall in 2014.
After a season in which he put up 22 points — two goals, 20 assists — with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the second-tier American Hockey League, Seider is looking to make the jump into the NHL in 2020-21.
"That's what I'm hoping to do. Whether this will happen or not, we'll have to wait and see," Seider said in a Zoom call with reporters that featured other top German prospects Tim Stützle, Lukas Reichel and Dominic Bokk.
"This summer will probably be the most important of my career because it will be about preparing myself as well as possible to try to steal a spot in the [Red Wings] lineup from one of my teammates and establish myself."
Should he fail to do so out of training camp, Seider said it wouldn't be the end of the world. "I'll just keep working hard in the AHL and wait for the call."
Highest rated European prospect
Arguably second closest to the NHL is 18-year-old forward Stützle. He spent his first professional season with Adler Mannheim of Germany's top-flight hockey league, the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). There, he contributed seven goals and 27 assists.
Going into this year's entry draft, Stützle, who can play both center and on the wing, is the highest rated European on NHL Central Scouting's list of draft-eligible prospects.
"It's my goal to be drafted as high as possible. It's down to the teams, and there's no way I can influence things now, but my goal is to go in the top three," Stützle said.
The goal seems realistic, although going first overall appears to be out of the question. The consensus is that that honor should go to forward Alexis LaFreniere from Rimouski of the Quebec junior league.
Asked which team he would like to get drafted by, Stützle said he'd be happy to go to any NHL club, but that he'd love to go to Detroit to play with Seider, or Los Angeles to work under assistant coach Marco Sturm, the man who led Germany to that silver medal in Pyeongchang. Both Seider and Sturm are prime examples of how German hockey has begun to make inroads into the NHL in recent years.
Advantages to staying home
There has long been a school of thought that Europeans need to go to North America at as young an age as possible to increase their chances of making it to the NHL. But three of the four on Thursday's Zoom call have bucked that trend, choosing instead to develop in Germany.
Sieder and Stützle stuck with Mannheim, while Reichel, 18, developed at DEL rivals Eisbären Berlin. Bokk, 20, the St. Louis Blues' first-round pick in 2018, also remained in Europe, starting out with the Vaxjo Lakers in the Swedish Hockey League and spending this past season on loan to Rogle BK.
According to Stützle, foregoing opportunities to play junior in Canada or college hockey in the United States offered him a couple of crucial advantages.
"The experienced players [at Mannheim] that have their NHL careers behind them were able to help me a lot," he said. "Also, the fact that you are playing against men is a huge advantage. I was able to learn a lot in terms of one-to-one battles on the ice."
Seider said his decision to stay in Mannheim until he was drafted was based partly due to what he'd seen happen to talented young Germans who went to the Canadian Hockey League in the past. Many didn't get a real shot because coaches there were reluctant to give them the chance they needed.
That may have had something to do with the fact that Germany simply hasn't been seen as a producer of top young hockey talent. Draisaitl, Seider, Stützle, Riechel, Bokk and others may be on the way to changing that perception.