Does It Matter Where Jerome Flaake Plays This Season?
August 4th, 2008 by Steve
Jerome Flaake was taken in the 5th round, 130th overall by the Leafs at the 2008 NHL entry draft. At the CHL import draft, he was taken 9th overall by the Prince George Cougars. That was based on his very solid (and MVP garnering) production in the German Junior league for Cologne, where in 36 games he scored 35 goals, and 45 assists for 80 points, to go along with 109 penalty minutes. It should be noted that none of his team-mates managed to score over 50 points… so he was basically a one man show for his junior squad.
He was promoted to play for the Cologne Sharks of the DEL, where he only managed to score 1 assist in 30 games. The current consensus amongst North American media seems to be that it would be in Flaake’s interest to develop on this side of the pond against stiffer competition that is around his age. That being said, there is a good chance he will finish his contract in Germany and continue to play for the Sharks next season.
This isn’t entirely a negative. The DEL has the largest number of North American players of any European league, due to it’s relatively liberal import rules, which allow up to 12 international players to play on the squad. On the Sharks he will be playing alongside former NHL’ers such as Todd Warriner, Dave McLlwain, John Slaney, and Kamil Piros. The DEL also has ex NHL’ers Eric Chouinard, Chris Taylor, Brad Tapper, Brad Smyth, and others. In the past, players like Micki DuPont, current Marlie Derrick Walser, Denis Pederson, and ex-Leaf Kelly Fairchild have also played in the DEL.
The quality of play is likely not as high as leagues such as the KHL, SEL, or FEL, but if Flaake can gain a spot and maintain his production amongst men, he’ll probably be further ahead in the long run of his development. Consider the fact that ALL of the Germans currently playing in the NHL, not named Kolzig - Marco Sturm, Jochen Hecht, Cristoph Schubert, Marcel Goc, Christian Ehrhoff, Dennis Seidenberg, Dmitri Patzold, Thomas Greiss, played in the DEL before coming over to play in the NHL.
*Kolzig is actually an anomaly because he was born in South Africa to German parents, and then raised in Canada. He played junior in the WHL, but he never actually applied for Canadian citizenship, and thus internationally can only represent Germany.
Playing in the DEL is unlikely to stunt the development of Flaake, and he is likely to be more comfortable playing in the same city he has been plying his trade in for the past few seasons. He will be receiving decent coaching at the hands of Doug Mason, who is noted for reinforcing an offensive style of play, and a focus on developing youth. Mason developed his own game at the hands of renowned Flyers coach Fred Shero, who won the Stanley Cup in ‘73-’74 and ‘74-’75. Shero coached Mason when he played in the Netherlands. Hopefully he can pass on a bit of what he knows to Flaake and mold him into a promising young Maple Leaf.
Posted in Prospects
7 Responses to “Does It Matter Where Jerome Flaake Plays This Season?”
By Doug
on Aug 4, 2008
Flaake is an interesting player. He seems to exude an air if confidence and moxy usually seen in more elite prospects. It will be interesting to see how he develops.
By Gerald Norton
on Aug 5, 2008
I’m not overly familiar with Flaake, and I do not want to rehash an old argument, lol.
But, from a Senators perspective, a few players who were formerly in non elite leagues (including the DEL) made significant advances in their play after moving to NA. This was a result of two key factors, special attention from the coaches, as they were viewed a “special” players. And increased ice time and role. I doubt Flaake with receiver any benefit in those two key areas by playing in the DEL. If I were the Leafs, I’d virtually demand he play in NA, probalby one year in the CHL, then into the AHL. But money will likely be a major stumbling block in that coming to fruition. I’m a firm believer in the Peter Principal, and like many NHL clubs, I view the AHL as a good test run for non elite players to either prove, or disprove their NHL capabilities by playing a NA style game, over a season of similar length (albeit Flaake did play 72 games last season, did this have an impact on his poor showing in the DEL?). The European and Asian leagues have done a good job of paying their players enough to entice them away from the AHL, but at the end of the day, most if not all NHL clubs still view the AHL as the best development, and proving league in the world (for the NHL).
Any Euro or Asian player will eventually have to get used to life in NA, if they wish to play in NA, and I’d rather it be when they’re younger, and still developing, then older, when habits and comfort become too deeply rooted.
By Marco
on Aug 5, 2008
I would be happier with him in the WHL.
By Steve
on Aug 5, 2008
Actually I’m not sure I care where he plays frankly, but I don’t think that playing in the WHL would really increase his chances of success in reaching the NHL.
While I don’t entirely agree with the method of analysis used in this study, the IIHF did an interesting strip down of the current trends in moving European youngsters to NA to train - and most of the outcomes were negative.
He’s probably further ahead playing 3 or 4 years in Germany and getting to the point where he’s relatively solid in his play over there. We won’t have to pay him pro-money, we retain his rights, and we can bring him over when he’s more fully developed. He’s still just a kid, and frankly I don’t think moving him serves much of a purpose.
By Marco
on Aug 5, 2008
Yes but he was getting no ice time over there in those 30 games, if he got a regular shift, he can definitely stay in the DEL.
By Steve
on Aug 5, 2008
Well Mason is a new coach for Cologne this season, and he’s known to play his younger players. They also lost their top scorer Ivan Ciernik in a transfer to Russia, so he’ll make his way up the ladder one way or another. Expect him to take on a larger role over time.
By Steve
on Aug 5, 2008
I really don’t think it makes a huge difference one way or another. The idea of players needing to adjust to the NA style of game is a myth perpetuated by franchises looking to keep closer tabs on their young prospects.
If the adjustment were so difficult, there would be far fewer NA players playing in Europe, and far fewer Europeans playing in NHL without ever having set foot in the CHL or AHL.
I will not argue with you that a lot of Europeans make the trip across to play Canadian Junior and end up in the AHL before stepping up to the NHL. I just don’t know that I think it is a requirement, or of any particular advantage. I haven’t done a study of my own, but based on the numbers quoted in the IIHF study, which is rather flawed, I’m not sure I think the CHL does a superior job of developing European talent in comparison to the European leagues themselves.
In fact - I’m doing a total analysis of all the European players in the NHL just to look at this stuff in more depth - I’ll post on it later this week. So far I’ve only looked at 6 teams, and out of the 53 Euro players that played for them last season, only 14 players came over to play in the CHL. Of those 14 players, only 3 or 4 are significant contributors at the NHL level, and 2 of them actually went back to play substantial time in Europe before returning to play in the NHL. That means only 12 of 53 that actually MADE the NHL spent significant time playing in the CHL to “adjust” to the NA game. I’m not sure that’s a strong enough relationship for me to think that it’s going to improve his chances much.
The vast majority of European players that I’ve looked at so far played at least 2 seasons at the highest level of a European league before coming to North America. Many of them (the majority) spent a bit of time in the AHL, though the ones that spent more time in the AHL had a lower impact overall… I think it has more to do with teams integrating players into their “systems” and examining their play up close than it does some sort of increased difficulty of the AHL. The best players make the switch with no stops along the way. They play in Europe for a few years, develop, then jump into the NHL with no “adjustment” necessary. Frankly the idea that North American life is so difficult to “adjust” to is amazingly ethno-centric in this day and age. Having spent time in Scandanavia and Germany, one of the things I’ve noted most is the superficial similarities. Home sickness aside, life in Europe isn’t as different from life in North America as many would have you believe… especially when you’re travelling in the circles NHL players do when it comes to money. Most European players return home in the off-season, and most of them consider hockey to be a “job” just like any other working stiff.
The idea that adjusting to NA is easier when you’re younger doesn’t make a lot of sense. Living far from family and friends in a foreign country for most of a year as a teenager isn’t “normal” and is far from “easy”. It’s not like a summer abroad backpacking. Adults possess more of the social skills necessary to cope with such a lifestyle change, and they also tend to be more grounded in their personal lives. They also tend to be making decisions such as where they wish to ply their trade with greater patience and more reflection. They’ve thought about it for a while, and they think it through more thoroughly. I just think players will develop more comfortably in their home environment, and can make the shift in employment more easily when they’re a bit older. I’m not saying he should never move to North America, I just think I’d be happy to wait a few years.