Why Swedes leave the NHL

When one of the Swedish stars for the Detroit Red Wings was negotiating a contract, he told the American press that he was seriously considering moving back to Sweden to play and to allow his family to live in Sweden, his kids to go to Swedish schools. The American press seemed to raise a cynical eyebrow at this as just a move to increase his salary. The Red Wings re-signed him and he plays for them today, along with quite a few other Swedes. But I think it was not just a negotiation tactic on the part of the Swedish hockey player.

In fact today there are some fairly high-profile Swedes playing in the Swedish hockey, including two that are playing in the farm leagues. Kenny Jönsson played for the Islanders and was considered an excellent back. Marcus Ragnarsson played in San Jose and did well. Both play for teams in Swedens first division, called the allsvenskan, which is like playing for the Hartford Wolfpack instead of the New York Rangers. They play with these teams because they want to. It is close to where they want to live, and playing for them allows them to develop a local team that would not be able to have players of this caliber.

But maybe they are old and not so good anymore you say? Maybe they should retire and not be considered so altruistic. Nonsense. Both Kenny Jönsson and Marcus Ragnarsson are playing for the Swedish national team in the Keralja cup this weekend against Russia, Finland and the Czech Republic - in short the European hockey powers. Both players have made significant contributions in a 6 - 3 drubbing of the Czech Republic. Good to see some hockey players with real values for a change.