Gare Joyce The Ottawa Citizen
Saturday, December 22, 2001
In Finland, Ottawa Senators director of player personnel Jarmo Kekäläinen must be the closest thing to Don Cherry.
In the Finnish sports newspaper Veikkaaja this month, Kekäläinen weighed in with a critique of Canadian junior hockey. He didn't quite make Cherry's Canada-first tirades on Coach's Corner seem understated by comparison, but he did find a lot wrong with minor hockey and major junior leagues in this country.
A Helsinki resident and the only National Hockey League personnel director based in Europe, Kekäläinen ripped into Canada's approach to developing its young talent.
The Senators executive's most stinging criticisms were reserved for the Western Hockey League. At the NHL entry draft last June, 45 WHL players were selected. The leading source of talent in Europe was Russia, which produced 36 players. Finland accounted for 23 draftees. The numbers, however, did nothing to blunt Kekäläinen's darts.
"I would not put my own son in that league (WHL) unless I knew that he was so tough that he could handle a few beatings. The Western Hockey League is a rather barbaric school of life."
The newspaper went even further, claiming that Canada's junior leagues practise "exploitation of child labour," that "bloodthirsty" fans demand fights, and that a premium is placed on profit over player development.
In the article, Kekäläinen suggested the U.S. college ranks might provide better support for player development.
"The university players are at a total different level of conditioning -- especially their legs and feet," he said. "CHL players can skate a long time, but they lack in explosive power a lot."
Reached on a scouting trip to Switzerland last night, Kekäläinen tried to distance himself from the Canada bashing in the Veikkaaja story.
He maintained that he made the comment about the WHL "with a smile on my face" and that the WHL would be a great opportunity if he had a son who was "tough enough" to compete. "I see a lot of WHL hockey during my trips to Canada, and I enjoy it a lot."
He also claimed that the translator of the article, Jouni Nieminen, might have taken some liberties.
"The writer is going overboard with some of the things," Kekäläinen said. "But clearly there is a chance for Canada to do a better job with its junior leagues and skill development. The article says that the juniors play too many games in Canada, and I think that is true.
"If it were more of a sport and less of a business, it would be better for the players and the game, but that's not going to happen any time soon. Junior hockey isn't a cheap thing to run."
"Look, there are more teenage hockey players in Canada than there are teenagers in Sweden and Finland combined," Kekäläinen added. "Canada produces more players than any other nation, but it could produce far more players of higher quality than it does right now."
The Senators used the first overall pick in 1996 to select Chris Phillips from the WHL, and last summer took the top-ranked Canadian junior, Jason Spezza from the Ontario Hockey League's Windsor Spitfires, second overall. However, many fans still regard the club as the most European of NHL franchises.
Thus, team executives were highly sensitive to the Veikkaaja story. Senators general manager Marshall Johnston referred all inquiries to Kekäläinen.
"There were some good criticisms (of Canadian junior hockey) in that story and some things that went a bit too far," Kekäläinen said. "I don't think that Canadian junior hockey is child exploitation or anything like that. I do agree with the article that Canadian junior hockey could be better. I say it should be."