Photo Source: polskihokej.eu

Since I started Polish Puck, young players have told me how they often face the harsh reality of teams being less likely to give Polish players a shot. It is a rough situation, but it makes sense, given the limited time and budget you have to construct a roster. Foreign teams are not looking to build up Polish hockey; they’re looking to build the best possible squad. Regarding roster construction, betting on a player with a more traditional hockey background is safer.

“Of course. It is my dream. But there is one problem – I am a Pole, and they do not want the Poles. When they learn that I am from Poland, they lose interest.”  – Damian Tyczynski to Sport.sk

If a player can find a place abroad, they’ll often hear comments from teammates and staff who are somewhat surprised that Poland has any level of hockey. Polish hockey just is not on the map at all. Over the past decade, Poland has slowly raised its reputation at the club and international levels. All the build up accumulated with Poland earning a promotion to the top level of the World Championships, a place the Polish national team hadn’t been in over 20 years. 

While it was a hockey celebration, it was, more importantly, a chance to get Poland back on everyone’s hockey map. This was a major chance for the red and white to promote their players on a grand recruiting stage. Two quick examples are Adam Vay of Hungary and Liam Kirk of Great Britain, who earned NHL deals after solid performances at the World Championships. While I never was going into this event expecting Polish players to attract interest from the best hockey league in the world, I knew players on this squad could compete in the stronger leagues of Europe. Poland went winless at the tournament but put up a fight better than anyone expected. They also showed they don’t have the fundamentals or conditioning that even the low-tier teams of the top division have. You only develop those traits in leagues with more money, better facilities, playing against stronger players, and under the supervision of more experienced coaches. 

Quite a few Polish players impressed agents, coaches, and staff at the event. We confirmed on several players that offers came in from stronger European leagues. None of those offers were accepted. Not a single player from Poland’s squad who played in Poland last year will be trying their game in a foreign league. The number of Polish players playing outside their home country in stronger leagues will drop. Our data also suggest that there will even be a slight decline in the number of Polish junior players in better junior programs abroad. The World Championship was supposed to allow Polish players to step into new challenges, but the numbers are declining. 

So what happened? This is where this piece becomes hard to write and why I have also, at times, shied away from the subject. Professional hockey is a job for players. A job that might leave them with injuries that affect the rest of their lives at that. The best Polish hockey players are the highest-paid players on Polish clubs and by a decent margin. If you ask any foreign coach or agent who works with in the Tauron Hokej Liga, they will point to this as one of the most significant issues with Polish hockey.

Top Polish players get paid well, live in their home country, and receive plenty of ice time, and these are just among the benefits. Put yourself in their shoes. Would you take a job offer in a foreign country for equal or less money, with more risk attached? Most offers Polish players have received and will get are still prove-it-type deals. The goal of going abroad would be to hopefully earn a more significant chance and contract like Aron Chmiewlewski received after working his way up the HC Oceláři Třinec organization in Czechia. When your roster is mostly all over the age of 25 with some roots established in Poland, it makes the likelihood of someone taking that risk less and less. 

There is a personal side to all this that you must understand when a player chooses to stay in Poland. Many of us would not take that risk. When you look at players from other countries on Poland’s level, they’re forced to go abroad for a decent payday. Still, if Polish hockey is to progress, someone has to be one to take those risks. 

Other players take those risks in every other hockey country, and federations leverage any connection to help their players find a better spot starting at the junior level. Junior players in Poland have told me that is not the case, with one even saying, “Going abroad feels like you give up a chance to be considered for the national team unless you’re playing the top league of Czechia, Canada, or Sweden since you can’t attend each camp.” A few other young players noted that going abroad sometimes feels discouraged as coaches value the chemistry they can build in Poland or the opportunities to play senior games in the THL. 

The best Polish talent staying home and being paid well creates a problem with how clubs build their teams. With so much of a club’s budget going to a few top players, there is only a little money left over for other Polish players. THL teams look to imports to fill the rest of their rosters. The THL can offer players better or conditions similar to those of the second and third-level leagues in Finland, Czechia, and Sweden. These players are usually better than your average Polish player, meaning from a club-building standpoint, it is a no-brainer to fill up the rest of your roster with imports over Poles. Then, for the few final spots, you take a few of those junior players who stayed home. They’ll vie against each other for bottom pairing or fourth-line roles and minutes. Through this, we have seen so many players in their mid-20s retire from the game. There is almost nowhere left for them to play. You rise to the top, or your career is over. This was seen with Kamil Paszek. Despite getting appearances with the national team in 2023, Paszek found no offers during the offseason.

Poland will never be able to take the next step forward when players stay in Poland. I mean this with no disrespect to Polish coaches or players, but staying in Poland does nothing for most of them. You have to get better coaching and play against better players to improve. When Poland only has one or two players that play in serious hockey countries, there will always be a ceiling on what they can do on the international stage. That will likely be a Division 1 Group A tweener team with once-in-a-decade trips to the top. Reaching the top will only become more challenging when Belarus and Russia return to the IIHF. If no one leaves, then no one will ever get better.

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