What's with all the Swedes?!

To be honest I am not sure if I should be impressed by the ignorance or bravery of some fans. There has been a lot of rumbling around the groups about picking up some Swedes low in the draft and how it is signs of Sens scouting going to the proverbial water closet. Today I am going to chime in on this hot button topic -- since it seems that the Meszaros rumours are pretty lax as of late and Murray is not budging one iota on his contract -- and talk about the Swedish picks.

The Ottawa Senators have always been an organization to step away from the conventional scouting of the NHL. I don't mean to boast liberally, but it is the truth. When you pick someone who is so low down that they're not seen as neither an impact player or a depth player and they turn out to be the rookie of the year and our longest standing captain ... that's pretty outside the box. The Senators knew then what they still know now: central scouting is focused on North America from a purely economical stance. It is cheaper for teams to keep their scouts in the continent than it is to jet set them around the globe to seek talent outside of the pool. However, they have been keen on placing key people in positions where they can get a feel for what is outside of the Stars and Stripes as well as the Maple Leaf. My return question is ... why are people surprised by the Sens drafting from Sweden?

Consider two major things. Daniel Alfredsson -- that low pick, then rookie, now captain Swedish kid -- does have a bit of a say with the team's direction. Not that I am implying that he makes all the calls, but if he knows of a kid back home that is being overlooked then why would he sit on it and not share this information? Further to this point the Senators will open the NHL season in Sweden against the Penguins. Again ... a chance for a couple of up and coming hockey stars to play on home ice could be foreseeable, but also helps build some reporte with the country that the NHL is not Euro-phobic.

What should really shock Sens fans it that Bryan Murray has stepped out of his comfort zone of favouring Canadian boys. Perhaps picking Karlsson -- top defenceman of the u-18 tournement -- wasn't entirely bad idea. Now that the cliche that only clubs captained by a Canadian is busted -- thank you Nik Lindstrom -- the blow hards in the media that I so faithfully adore can lay off just a touch. Did it surprise me that Murray picked a Swede first (or a few times for the matter)? No. Does it bother me? No. Do I want to see more Canadian kids in the NHL? That's complex. I want to see the best game put forward by the best players out there. I don't care what country they come from, their religious practices, their sex -- yup, I said it, sex. For those not in the know ... women's ice hockey prior to the WWII was brutal and spectacular ... too bad it's "girls" now -- or even what kind of food preferences they have.

Why should you?