Weekend Long read: draft picks in front of us

The MOL League is not the NHL… that statement will not surprise anyone that knows anything about hockey, the EBEL is not the NHL, either, but is a step closer. Luckily Hungarian hockey fans do not have to look too far to experience former NHL prospects, though.

Since the first season of the MOL League during the 2008-2009 there have been 27 different hockey players who have been drafted by the top hockey league in the world, the NHL, who would also spend part of their career in the MOL League.

There are a number of reasons why a drafted player would end up in the MOL League. The obvious one is that they are Hungarian. Of the three Hungarian born and raised players drafted only one, Tamás Gröschl has ever skated in the MOL League. Gröschl was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 1999, rumor has it that the Oilers thought that he was Swedish. He had played the 98-99 season in Újpest but had already signed with Leksand in Sweden by the time he was drafted. Gröschl would spend one season in Sweden before going to the ECHL for one season. He would spend the first three year of the MOL League with the Budapest Stars before moving on to his current team DAB.Docler where this is his fourth season.

ON A LINE WITH JAGR

That 08-09 Stars team had another two draft picks on their roster, Kristian Kovac and Peter Polcik. Polcik was in a similar situation like Gröschl that he was playing in his home country. That season the Stars and Nové Zámky, who were in the Slovak 2nd division at that time, had a deal where they would loan players back and forth between the two teams. Because of this Polcik who was with Nové Zámky played one game for the Stars. Polcik was an 8th round pick in 2001 by the Capitals. He had a pretty good rookie camp and was invited to the NHL camp where he was linemates with NHL legends Peter Bondra and Jaromir Jagr. Because of his young age at that time GM George McPhee thought it would be better if Polcik spent a season playing junior hockey in the QMJHL.

The Stars were the first team to have three draft picks on one team but they have not been the only one. Nové Zámky have had three the past two seasons, joining Polcik last season was Marek Dubec and goalie Jan Chovan. This season Radislav Kropac joined the team for one game, along with Kropac, Polcik and Dubec had signed with Nové Zámky to finish up their careers playing in their home country.

THE FIRST EVER

This season the MOL League has a record 11 draft picks playing for seven out of the eight teams, Debrecen is the only one that does not have one. Also for the second year in a row there are two ex NHL players. Last season Csíkszereda signed Mike Danton and Denis Shvidki for a late playoff push that came up short and this season Jaroslav Obsut and Miloslav Guren have been great additions to their teams, Brasov and Ferencváros respectively. However, Steaua Bucharest was the first team to have an ex NHL player in Cam Severson in the first MOL League season. Severson would play one more season in the CHL before he hung up the skates. Shvidki has yet to play this season as he is closer to the end of his career than at the middle of it. Mike Danton is different case as he was in the middle of a nice NHL career when legal matters caused him to miss five season from the middle of his career and had to restart his career in Europe. This season he is one of the scoring leaders for his team Sanok in Poland.

Most times unfortunately ex NHL draft picks have been coming to the MOL League to play the last one or two seasons before moving on to an even weaker division. However, with the increase in players who have playing in quality leagues, in the long run could mean that the league is slowly making a name for themselves and looks to continue to raise the level of hockey in the years to come.

LOOK AT OTHER OPTIONS

If you are not from Hungary, Slovakia or Romania why would you want to play in the MOL League after you were already on the edge of making it to the big show? Most of the time players see the writing on the wall and know that they will not be getting called up to the NHL anytime soon especially the ones that are playing in the lower minor leagues. This is when players start to look towards other options, if they are not moving back home then they look at places where import players are treated well and get paid.

“If you aren't really getting serious looks, you will always get back send down (to the ECHL), you usually start to look at other options,” says Fehérvár's alternate captain Andrew Sarauer.

All in all we can see that there has not only been an increase of the quality of hockey in the MOL League also seeing that more and more players who have reached the top or have been close to it are now looking at the MOL League as a quality league. If this trend continues the future looks bright for the league.