Augsburger Panther AKA: Augsburg Panthers Founded: 1878 (as Augsburger EV until 1994) Arena: Curt Frenzel Stadion Capacity: 7,774 Location: Augsburg, Germany Head coach: Max Fedra Notes: Eisbären Berlin AKA: Berlin Polar Bears Founded: 1954 (as SC Dynamo Berlin until 1990) Arena: O2 World Capacity: 14,200 Location: Berlin, Germany Head coach: Don Jackson Notes: Füchse Duisburg AKA: Duisburg Foxes Founded: 1971 Arena: Scania Arena Capacity: 4,800 Location: Duisburg, Germany Head coach: Ulf Manthei Notes: Düsseldorfer Eislauf-Gemeinschaft Metro Stars AKA: DEG Metro Stars Founded: 1935 (as Düsseldorfer EG until 2002) Arena: ISS Dome Capacity: 13,400 Location: Düsseldorf, Germany Head coach: Harold Kreis Notes: Frankfurt Lions Founded: 1959 (as Eintracht Frankfurt until 1991) Arena: Eissporthalle Frankfurt Capacity: 6,946 Location: Frankfurt, Germany Head coach: Rich Chernomaz Notes: Hamburg Freezers Founded: 1999 (as München Barons until 2002) Arena: Color Line Arena Capacity: 12,947 Location: Hamburg, Germany Head coach: Bill Stewart Notes: Hannover Scorpions Founded: 1975 (as ESC Wedemark until 1994) Arena: TUI Arena Capacity: 10,767 Location: Hannover, Germany Head coach: Hans Zach Notes: ERC Ingolstadt Founded: 1964 Arena: Saturn Arena Capacity: 4,815 Location: Ingolstadt, Germany Head coach: Benoite Laporte Notes: Iserlohn Roosters Founded: 1959 (as EC Deilinghofen until 1980) Arena: Eissporthalle Iserlohn Capacity: 4,967 Location: Iserlohn, Germany Head coach: Steve Stirling Notes: Kassel Huskies Founded: 1977 (as ESG Kassel until 1987) Arena: Eissporthalle Kassel Capacity: 6,100 Location: Kassel, Germany Head coach: Stéphane Richer Notes: Kölner Haie AKA: Cologne Sharks Founded: 1972 (as Kölner EC until 1994) Arena: Lanxess Arena Capacity: 18,500 Location: Cologne, Germany Head coach: Clayton Beddoes Notes: Krefeld Pinguine AKA: Krefeld Penguins Founded: 1936 (as Krefelder EV until 1978) Arena: Königpalast Capacity: 8,029 Location: Krefeld, Germany Head coach: Igor Pawlow Notes: Adler Mannheim AKA: Mannheim Eagles Founded: 1938 (as Mannheimer ERC until 1994) Arena: SAP-Arena Capacity: 13,600 Location: Mannheim, Germany Head coach: Dave King Notes: Sinupret Ice Tigers AKA: Nuremberg Ice Tigers Founded: 1980 (as EHC 80 Nürnberg until 1995) Arena: Arena Nürnberger Versicherung Capacity: 8,200 Location: Nürnberg, Germany Head coach: Andreas Brockmann Notes: Straubing Tigers Founded: 1941 (as Bann Straubing until 1943) Arena: Eisstadion am Pulverturm Capacity: 5,940 Location: Straubing, Germany Head coach: Bob Manno Notes: Grizzly Adams Wolfsburg Founded: 1975 (as TV Jahn Wolfsburg until 1986) Arena: EisArena Capacity: 4,700 Location: Wolfsburg, Germany Head coach: Anton Krinner Notes: I'll get to important notes tonight or tomorrow.
Thanks. The DEL is good and is establishing itself as a top hockey league worldwide. They may not have the buying power overall like the KHL clubs, but the quality is there and continuing to climb. Here is my list of the top ten leagues in Europe. 01. KHL (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Latvia) 02. Elitserien (Sweden) 03. SM-Liiga (Finland) 04. DEL (Germany) 05. O2 ELH (Czech Republic) 06. Extraliga (Slovakia) 07. Elite Ice Hockey League (United Kingdom) 08. Ligue Nationale A (Switzerland) 09. Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (Austria, Hungary and Slovenia) 10. Ligue Magnus (France) Currently, as with a few other leagues in Europe, their top clubs (Berlin Polar Bears and Cologne Sharks) are looking into joining the KHL. The KHL is new and very powerful already. It will definitely be a contender with the NHL down the road. The Elitserien may lose Färjestads BK and Frölunda HC by next season and the Czech Republic's O2 ELH have recently confirmed that Energie Karlovy Vary will be moving to the KHL next season. Only one Finnish club has confirmed their interest, their best one Kärpät of Oulu. In any case, even if the DEL were to lose Berlin and Cologne it wouldn't damage it much. The league can easily replace them with two other top clubs from their second league. The two that come to my mind off hand are EHC München and Dresdner Eislöwen. What I think should interest NHL fans is that unlike the confusing relegation and promotion systems that other leagues use, the DEL has a system similar to the NHL. It was the creators' idea to mold their league after the World's best and most popular. Teams no longer have to worry about falling out of the league after a poor season and can establish better finances.
Sweden and Finland are far more developed in terms of their home-grown talent, but the DEL is catching up in terms of league quality. I'm actually not a big fan of the SM-Liiga to be honest with you. I like the DEL and KHL most.
They're pretty big about hockey in Germany, at least thats what I got when I was there. They bet a lot on those games as well. lol