If you are interested in a study that was conducted recently regarding European players coming to North America, this link is for you. Alot of surprising data here. This is a PDF file

http://www.iihf.com/education/pdf/IIHF_Study.pdf

The primary conclusions of the study are:
++ Too many Europeans who are not of NHL-calibre are signed by NHL-clubs.

++ Too many Europeans who are potentially of NHL-calibre but not yet NHL-ready, are signed prematurely.

++ The average quality of European-trained NHL players remaining in their European clubs until they are NHL-ready is vastly superior to the quality of Europeans spending significant time in the minor leagues or who go through the major junior system.

++ The often repeated theory that a European player needs 'adjustment' and 'time to learn' the North American game is not supported in the data from the research.

++ The recruiting of European players under development is a threat to the quality of the top European leagues and to the European development system as the European clubs are not able to adequately replace the players. This is also a threat to the NHL as a decline of quality of the European leagues will put in danger further development of players of NHL-calibre.

"The findings of the study support our concern that too many players who are not NHL-ready leave the European leagues and never reach their potential," says IIHF President René Fasel. "This is detrimental both to the NHL and to the top European leagues. It is now the duty of the global hockey community to address this issue for the benefit of all leagues as well as international hockey."

-- Edited by Fatherhab at 15:08, 2006-10-26

Summary of report below

http://www.iihf.com/education/pdf/Study_summary.pdf