A lot of it has to do with the length and type of practice in certain regions.
In Europe practice is usually four hours long, in North America it's closer to two. Europeans become more skilled with a greater amount of practice and Americans routinely play with more intensity because of the intensity of practice. Thus NHL teams draft Europeans for their skill (likely forward positions) and North Americans for their grit.
As for goaltending I have a personal theory. In general I would consider French Canadians to be more European and Fins to be more North American. As a result of counter culture or whatever these teams have adopted these traits strategically (for Finland to beat Sweden, for Quebec to be different than Ontario). But if you look, these two regions produce the best goaltenders, it must be because they play a hybrid system and are most familiar with the hybrid style of hockey played in the NHL. |