Are we more of a North American Hockey Team now?

[Dimaline312000 51]

This past off-season we lost 4 Europeans and gained a few more North American born palyers. The Wings lost Hossa, Hudler, Kopecky, and Samuelsson and we signed Bertuzzi, Williams, Eaves, Delmore and May. I know we still have quite a few Europeans on the roster from different parts of Europe but we did lose some key players. So does that make us more of a team that plays North American style of hockey or are we still the soft Europeans that everyone used to call us in years past? Also do you think that has affected our play this season and where we are early this season or does this have no effect and it's just a slow start? Thoughts, Comments, Ect...............??

[kylee 727]

having more north american boys will surely lead to greater success......right?

or maybe correlation truly doesnt equal causation.

ive always stood by that i just want a team that wins and that i can identify with.

[thedatsyukian 7]

Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Franzen.

All of our top players are Euro, need I say more?

[ManLuv4Clears 7]

Demographic? Yes. Style of play? No.

[topsideplaya 0]

count up the north american players and then count up the european players and whichever has more wins.

[stevkrause 1,247]

count up the north american players and then count up the european players and whichever has more wins.

It depends in what sense we're talking... if we are talking style of play, this is irrelevant, if we are purely talking about numbers of each, then yes. this works.

for the record -

Nicklas Lidstrom - European

Pavel Datsyuk - European

Henrik Zetterberg - European

Johan Franzen - European

Andreas Lilja - European

Johan Franzen - European

Niklas Kronwall - European

Valtteri Filppula - European

Tomas Holmstrom - European

Jonathan Ericsson - European

Ville Leino - European

Brian Rafalski - NA

Brad Stuart - NA

Daniel Cleary - NA

Kris Draper - NA

Todd Bertuzzi - NA

Jason Williams - NA

Chris Osgood - NA

Kirk Maltby - NA

Justin Abdelkader - NA

Jimmy Howard - NA

Brett Lebda - NA

Patrick Eaves - NA

Derek Meech - NA

Brad May - NA

Darren Helm - NA

11 - European

15 - NA

[stevkrause 1,247]

for the record, I think it's irrelevant... I think our slow start has 100% to do with us still gelling as a team as there were some major roster changes and I think McCrimmon needs to go... mark my words, we will still finish in a top 4 seed.

[The Secret 304]

This past off-season we lost 4 Europeans and gained a few more North American born palyers. The Wings lost Hossa, Hudler, Kopecky, and Samuelsson and we signed Bertuzzi, Williams, Eaves, Delmore and May. I know we still have quite a few Europeans on the roster from different parts of Europe but we did lose some key players. So does that make us more of a team that plays North American style of hockey or are we still the soft Europeans that everyone used to call us in years past? Also do you think that has affected our play this season and where we are early this season or does this have no effect and it's just a slow start? Thoughts, Comments, Ect...............??

Obviously it up'ed the number of NA players on the roster but replacing 3 good Europeans + Kopecky with 5 mediocre North Americans is not going to add anything in terms of making us a better team. If we were to replace the 5 euro's with the equivalent in talent from NA then we would have something to talk about.

[Electrophile 3,554]

I really don't care what nationality we have more/less of or what style of play that entails, I just want a quality product on the ice every night. I think some fans get too hung up on the North American vs. European argument. We've been successful using both ideologies, so does it really matter at this point anymore?

[The Secret 304]

I really don't care what nationality we have more/less of or what style of play that entails, I just want a quality product on the ice every night. I think some fans get too hung up on the North American vs. European argument. We've been successful using both ideologies, so does it really matter at this point anymore?

I prefer the North American style of play which is very different the the Euro style whether you want to believe it or not. I think the best is to have a good blend of the 2 to get the best of both worlds. The problem lies in the quality of the talent that left and the quality that they were replaced with. I wasn't much of a Sammy fan but I would take him back over Eaves... Didn't care much for invisible Hudler either ut he is still a huge upgrade over Williams.

[Dimaline312000 51]

Good start here everyone. I really don't think it matters where the bulk or any of our players come from. They are al good players some better than others obviously but I really don't think having more North American players than less European players is contributing to our slow start. I'm really not all that concerned with our slow start right now I mean it's just October if we are still playing this way in December or January than I think it may be time to do something.

It's just going to take some time for THIS team to Jel. We're still a great hockey team. This could be a good thing in past seasons the Wings have started out great than puttered out late in the season maybe this season will be the season that turns this around. Not that I'm saying anyone is saying this but don't count us out of a possible 3rd strait Stanley Cup Final this season. We'll just have to see how it plays out. Go Wings!!

[Electrophile 3,554]

I prefer the North American style of play which is very different the the Euro style whether you want to believe it or not.

Did I say I didn't think there was a difference?

[Guest micah]

I would love it if this team was 100& European and they played hard every f'n shift and stuck up for themselves and their teammates. That's all I ask.