Genève-Servette's CHL win might be the first of many for Swiss clubs
Last spring, Genève-Servette HC won the first domestic title in the club’s history, which dates back to 1905. Now the Swiss club is the European champion following Tuesday night’s 3-2 victory over Sweden’s Skellefteå AIK in the Champions Hockey League Final.
Since the CHL’s rebirth in 2014, this was the first time a Swiss team had made the Final, let alone won it. And it is just the second time ever that a team from Switzerland has been crowned club hockey champion of Europe after the ZSC Lions of Zurich triumphed in the previous Champions Hockey League’s one-and-only 2008/09 season.
But while this might look on the surface like a “Cinderella” story of the underdog Swiss upsetting the mighty Swedes – who have dominated the CHL to this point – it might be just the beginning in a reversal of the trend.
In fact, looking at the two teams in the Final, one side clearly had more star power: the Swiss team, Genève-Servette. And while most of the team’s players are indeed Swiss, most of the big names are from elsewhere. The winning goal was scored by Canadian defenceman and former NHLer Daniel Winnik. Most significantly, the roster includes several big-name Finns, including high-scoring linemates Sakari Manninen and Teemu Hartikainen, starting goaltender Jussi Olkinuora, CHL MVP defenceman Sami Vatanen and Triple Gold Club member Valtteri Filppula, who now adds a CHL title to his Stanley Cup and gold medals from the Olympics and World Championships.
This rare feat should make Filppula an early candidate for the prestigious Warrior Career Excellence Award.
It is widely believed that Genève’s team budget was more than double that of Skellefteå’s, but it's not just a case of one high-spending Swiss club with deep pockets.
Genève-Servette might be on top of European hockey right now, but in Switzerland, the team is languishing in eighth place in the 14-team National League. Other teams in the league have signed Czechs Šimon Hrubec, Jan Kovář and Roman Červenka, Finns Markus Granlund, Mikko Lehtonen, Juho Lammiko and Aleksi Heponiemi, American Marc Arcobello, German Dominik Kahun, and Swedes Marcus Sorensen, Jacob de la Rose and Lucas Wallmark.
More than 30 top Swedes who could easily find roster spots in their country's top circuit play in the Swiss National League – a league that allows six imports per team and has shown a willingness to pay salaries on a scale that Swedish and Finnish clubs simply cannot match. Quite simply, player salaries in Switzerland’s top league are considerably higher than those paid by clubs in the Swedish Hockey League, Finnish Liiga, Czech Extraliga, or any European domestic league that was once thought superior to the National League.
For this reason, Genève-Servette’s win doesn't feel so much like a one-off for Switzerland.
Photo: Nabil Kacem – GSHC
