Jakob Lilja, new recruit from Friborg, was exchanged with Chris DiDomenico (Ambri). Image: KEYSTONE
Freiburg and Ambri traded Chris DiDomenico and Jakob Lilja overnight. These lightning transfers, far too rare, would nevertheless make the National League less rigid.
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In the dynamic world of hockey, you change employers more quickly than your work clothes. Proof? The statement from Fribourg-Gottéron team manager, Pierre Reynaud, before the match in Bienne on Tuesday:
“Tonight Jakob Lilja plays with us for the first time. He will have jersey number 43, but he will later wear number 29. Unfortunately, we have not yet been able to provide him with an outfit with number 29.
The day before, the sports directors of Gottéron and Ambri had negotiated an exchange of players: the Swede Jakob Lilja left Leventine for the banks of the Sarine, and the Canadian Chris DiDomenico went the opposite way.
Upon his arrival, Jakob Lilja (43) was aligned by Friborg on Tuesday evening against Biel. Image: KEYSTONE
Such spontaneous transfers are possible at any time with a Swiss license until January 31 and with a foreign license until February 15. And they can do the league a lot of good.
But the need for stability, to which sports directors now aspire, with very long-term contracts, often prevents this type of deal.
And, for clubs, there are other advantages to offering long contracts: the annual salary of a good – and expensive – Swiss hockey player decreases with a deal lasting several years; the painful extension negotiations are spared for the sports director and the player’s agent (but the latter, despite everything, receives his annual commission).
The turning Tristan Scherwey
Before, it was different. But a turning point took place in 2019, when CP Berne prematurely extended Tristan Scherwey’s contract by seven years, until 2027. A deal that caused a sensation throughout the league. Now, this type of lease is commonplace in the National League.
The extension of Tristan Scherwey at CP Berne in 2019, for seven years, was a turning point for Swiss hockey. Image: KEYSTONE
Some examples: Lukas Frick still wears the Lausanne jersey, but he has already signed in Davos until 2030; Dario Simion (Zug) has a contract with Lugano until 2031; Sven Jung recently extended with HC Davos until 2031, Damien Riat with LHC until 2030 and Sven Andrighetto with ZSC Lions until 2029; Dean Kukan signed a five-year lease with these same ZSC Lions upon his return from North America in 2022 and Grégory Hofmann extended until 2028 with Zug after his failed adventure in the NHL (2021/22).
For ZSC Lions sporting director Sven Leuenberger, the lack of a real market is the reason for the trend towards long contracts. THE game changers with Swiss license – that is to say the players who can decide on their own a match or even a championship – are practically no longer available and the clubs which own these players are doing everything to keep them in the long term.
“The Swiss who are still on the market currently serve at most to deepen the squad of a team aiming for the title”
Sven Leuenberger, sports director of the ZSC Lions
A ranking cemented
In the best case scenario, clubs manage to keep their few top Swiss players and remain flexible in the market for second-rate hockey players, who only complete the contingent. Rich teams, with good sporting prospects, have grabbed the talented Helvetians, offering them longer-term contracts.
But this practice blocks the market and cements the hierarchy of the league.
Losing DiDomenico is a shame for Gottéron????
The teams whose budgets are limited and which cannot nourish the ambition of a title continue to train young Swiss people, but they are unable to retain them and thus remain at the bottom of the ranking.
A good indicator to know the level of a team is the number of strong Swiss players aged 25 or over who have a contract beyond next season. There are seven of them at GE Servette; six in Davos, Lugano and Lausanne; five in Gottéron; four at ZSC Lions, Zug and Bern and three in Bienne. But there are only two in Ambri, Kloten and Rapperswil; one in Langnau and none in Ajoie.
Yes, more frequent exchanges of players would be good for the hockey players themselves, the teams and, more generally, the championship.
Chris DiDomenico made an assist in his first match in Ambri (2-3 defeat after extra time against Zug) and Gottéron won with Jakob Lilja in Bienne (4-1).
Chris DiDomenico made an assist in his first match with Ambri. Image: KEYSTONE
And we have almost forgotten today that the grandiose careers of Romain Loeffel and Damien Brunner only took off thanks to exchanges during the season: Zug had brought Brunner from Kloten for Thomas Walser, and Geneva had managed to hire Romain Loeffel (Gottéron) by swapping him with Jérémie Kamerzin.
Translation and adaptation into French: Yoann Graber
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