IIHF International Hockey Rankings
by Derek Zona on Jun 30, 2011 6:30 AM MDT
in News
Email
PrintThe 2011 NHL Entry Draft had an international flair, led by three Swedes in the first six picks. Overall, 32.4% of all draft choices were of European descent. Below is a breakdown of all of the selections by country of origin, via Wikipedia:
| Rank | Country | Picks | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| North America | 142 | 67.6% | |
| Europe | 68 | 32.4% | |
| 1 |  Canada |
83 | 39.5% |
| 2 |  United States |
59 | 28.1% |
| 3 |  Sweden |
28 | 13.3% |
| 4 |  Czech Republic |
10 | 4.8% |
 Finland |
10 | 4.8% | |
| 6 |  Russia |
9 | 4.3% |
| 7 |  Slovakia |
4 | 1.9% |
| 8 |  Germany |
2 | 1.0% |
 Norway |
2 | 1.0% | |
 Switzerland |
2 | 1.0% | |
| 11 |  Denmark |
1 | 0.5% |
As countries like Switzerland and Denmark continue to build on international hockey success, it's likely that the number of drafted players will begin to rise slowly, eroding the North American percentage. After the jump I'll look at the latest IIHF rankings, released after the World Championships.
The explanation of the rankings criteria can be found here. The methodology only uses five tournaments to complete the ranking:
The IIHF World Ranking is based on awarding points for the final positions in the last four IIHF World Championships and in the last Olympic Ice Hockey Tournament.
| Points | Movement | ||
| 1 | Russia | 3650 | 1 |
| 2 | Finland | 3630 | 1 |
| 2 | Sweden | 3630 | 2 |
| 4 | Canada | 3595 | -3 |
| 5 | Czech Republic | 3570 | 1 |
| 6 | United States | 3340 | -1 |
| 7 | Switzerland | 3240 | 1 |
| 8 | Germany | 3190 | 4 |
| 9 | Norway | 3175 | 2 |
| 10 | Slovakia | 3130 | -3 |
| 11 | Belarus | 3025 | -2 |
| 12 | Latvia | 2985 | -2 |
| 13 | Denmark | 2965 | 0 |
| 14 | France | 2765 | 2 |
| 15 | Austria | 2730 | -1 |
| 16 | Kazakhstan | 2615 | 3 |
| 17 | Italy | 2605 | -2 |
| 18 | Slovenia | 2565 | 0 |
| 19 | Ukraine | 2495 | -2 |
| 20 | Hungary | 2460 | 0 |
| 21 | Great Britain | 2250 | 3 |
| 22 | Japan | 2245 | -1 |
| 23 | Poland | 2215 | -1 |
| 24 | Lithuania | 2125 | -1 |
| 25 | Netherlands | 2080 | 0 |
| 26 | Estonia | 1940 | 0 |
| 27 | Croatia | 1890 | 0 |
| 28 | Romania | 1800 | 0 |
| 29 | Spain | 1785 | 1 |
| 30 | Serbia | 1755 | -1 |
| 31 | Korea | 1605 | 2 |
| 32 | Bulgaria | 1405 | -1 |
| 33 | Mexico | 1385 | -1 |
| 34 | Australia | 1350 | 0 |
| 35 | Belgium | 1180 | 1 |
| 36 | Iceland | 1125 | 3 |
| 37 | Turkey | 1110 | 0 |
| 38 | New Zealand | 1065 | 2 |
| 39 | China | 1060 | -4 |
| 40 | Israel | 885 | -2 |
| 41 | Ireland | 785 | 1 |
| 42 | South Africa | 740 | -1 |
| 43 | Luxembourg | 650 | 1 |
| 44 | Greece | 640 | 2 |
| 45 | DPR Korea | 485 | -2 |
| 46 | Mongolia | 315 | -1 |
| 47 | United Arab Emirates | 165 | NA |
| 48 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 50 | -1 |
| NR | Armenia | - | NA |
Canada slides three spots to number 4, while Finland rises to the second spot on the strength of their World Championship win.
Great Britain has risen from 25th a year ago to 21st today. Star goaltender Ben Bowns should backstop the British team for a number of years and has a chance to carry the team a couple of slots higher.
It's a bit of a surprise to see both Germany and Norway surpass Slovakia, but Slovakia was missing a number of their best players due to the NHL playoffs.
The Chinese have slipped 10 spots in a little over a year.
7 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Wow, my GB team moves up 3 spots!! Way to go boys :) Seriously though, it would be nice if just one GB born and bred player could become an NHL star – Tony Hand and Colin Shields are the closest we’ve come (Byron Dafoe and Steve Thomas don’t count as they were raised in Canada).
In other news, Smid signs for 2 years.
Interesting stuff. I was unaware that places like Mongolia even had a national hockey team. Good for them. And China, too. If they are 39th now then that means at one point they were 29th, no? That is pretty crazy.
Brett Gee
This is true even if you don’t give a shit about Asian hockey. Outstanding writing. I’m a bad person for not going more often.
SNN Sports - A theoretical Oilers blog (i.e. theoretically, I write stuff there). Link now 100% less broken.
As countries like Switzerland and Denmark continue to build on international hockey success, it’s likely that the number of drafted players will begin to rise slowly, eroding the North American percentage.
I actually think that won’t happen… I think that they will cut into Europeans being drafted from other countries. It is very likely, as of right now, that the Czechs, Slovaks and Finns decline while the Germans, Swiss and Danish improve. Still the same number of Euro’s but a shift to another part of the country. I forgot Norway as well. Those countries seem to have a more North American flair to them and are, maybe, more easily adaptable to the NHL style.
If the Slovaks and Czechs end up in the Russian junior leagues, they won’t fall off. They’ll actually have a developmental system for once. I think the Finns will remain steady.
Editor of The Copper & Blue, and leader of The Cult Of Hartikainen.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on The Copper & Blue
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
Oilers Schedule
Last 5 Games
@
Vancouver
|
Sat 04/07 | L 0 - 3 |
|
Anaheim
|
Thu 04/05 | OT - L 2 - 3 |
|
@
Los Angeles
|
Mon 04/02 | L 0 - 2 |
|
@
Anaheim
|
Sun 04/01 | W 2 - 1 |
|
Los Angeles
|
Fri 03/30 | L 1 - 4 |
In Association With
Latest Puck Daddy - NHL from Yahoo! Sports
- Trending Topics: In praise of Jeff Carter, Mike Richards; ‘While The Men Watch’ criticism
- The John Tortorella origin story, including ground balls to the face
- NHL investigates Coyotes; Shane Doan explains tense Game 5 handshake with Kings’ Brown
- NHL Playoff Beard Watch: Blood, Sweat and Beards of unsung unshaven heroes
- Devils guarantee they’ll downplay 1994 conference finals for Game 6 vs. Rangers
