One kind of player I am always sympathetic with are the Europeans who choose to come to the CHL. It presents them with unique challenges that Canadian and Americans playing in the CHL do not face — they are adjusting to very different styles of play than the European junior leagues they’re used to, and they adjust to a new language and culture.
This isn’t something I necessarily use to mentally bump a player’s rankings, but I am typically more impressed by a European kid playing in North America excelling than I am when a Canadian player has the same level of success.