While at first glance you might assume that the tweet is satire, you soon realize that he's dead serious with his assumption and that he has no idea that many European players were not only depth pieces, but adds at the deadline to get the teams they were added too over the hump.
Furthermore, if the Red Wings teams who lifted Lord Stanley in the mid to late 90's didn't have their Russian components or if their teams of 2000's were without their Swedish players, would they have won the NHL's ultimate prize? You can argue that when the Chicago Blackhawks won three Cups between 2009-2015 that the majority of their players were Canadian, but their depth and role players were born in places like Sweden, Czechia, Slovakia, Finland Denmark. So to suggest that the reason the Vancouver Canucks didn't win was because their roster was top heavy on europeans in as much of a joke as Mark Spector's career. Let's not forget that during the 2017 Stanley Cup final Patrick Hornqvist of Swedish heritage scored the series clinching goal to propel the Pittsburgh Penguins to a Stanley Cup championship. But you're right Mark, the Canucks didn't win because they depended too much on their Europeans. Finally, he may have only won one Cup, but it would be disgraceful if Alex Ovechkin wasn't part of the discussion. Soon to be the greatest goalscorer of all-time. Yes, he's been the engine that kept his team going for close to two decades, however the supporting cast around him included eleven europeans.
All this to suggest that having too many players of European decent to fill out a roster is a bad thing and is the sole reason that the Vancouver Canucks were unable to beat the Edmonton Oilers is an abomination and Sportsnet should look to Mark Spector and ask him what he was thinking.
POLL | ||
Do you agree with Mark Spectors assessment that the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Edmonton Oilers because they rostered too many Europeans? | ||
Yes | 78 | 34.1 % |
No | 151 | 65.9 % |
List of polls |