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Evgeni Malkin of the NHL's Pittsburgh
Penguins
Evgeni Malkin of the NHL's Pittsburgh
Penguins
Russian Hockey League Takes on NHL
A newly formed Russian hockey league is offering large contracts to lure players away from the NHL, but it has yet to land a star player.
30-Second Summary
The Continental Hockey League (CHL or KHL) will begin play in 2008 with 24 teams from Russia, Belarus, Latvia and Kazakhstan. Backed by Russian energy companies and other state monopolies, the league intends to pay big money to attract some of the world’s top players.
The league recently offered Penguins star Evgeni Malkin a deal that would make him the world’s highest-paid hockey player, but Malkin has expressed little interest. They are reportedly looking to sign aging Czech superstar Jaromir Jagr as well.
“At the moment, the top players will continue playing in the NHL because they believe it’s the best league in the world,” said Russia’s Minister of Sport Slava Fetisov. “But if our league gains the same status as our North American counterparts, the new Ovechkins, Kovalchuks and Datsyuks will stay here.”
Russian hockey authorities have been frustrated by the exodus of hockey talent to the NHL since the fall of the Soviet Union. In an attempted to keep its best players in Russia, the Russian Hockey Federation refused to renew an international transfer agreement with the NHL last May.
In December, other IIHF countries backed out of the deal, and it appears that there will be no transfer agreement for 2008-09. The lack of a transfer agreement essentially creates an international free market for hockey players; European teams will be able to sign players away from the NHL without compensating the NHL teams, and vice versa.
The CHL hopes players will follow to money to Russia, but Malkin and other young Russian players have maintained that they want to play in the NHL, at least for now.
The league recently offered Penguins star Evgeni Malkin a deal that would make him the world’s highest-paid hockey player, but Malkin has expressed little interest. They are reportedly looking to sign aging Czech superstar Jaromir Jagr as well.
“At the moment, the top players will continue playing in the NHL because they believe it’s the best league in the world,” said Russia’s Minister of Sport Slava Fetisov. “But if our league gains the same status as our North American counterparts, the new Ovechkins, Kovalchuks and Datsyuks will stay here.”
Russian hockey authorities have been frustrated by the exodus of hockey talent to the NHL since the fall of the Soviet Union. In an attempted to keep its best players in Russia, the Russian Hockey Federation refused to renew an international transfer agreement with the NHL last May.
In December, other IIHF countries backed out of the deal, and it appears that there will be no transfer agreement for 2008-09. The lack of a transfer agreement essentially creates an international free market for hockey players; European teams will be able to sign players away from the NHL without compensating the NHL teams, and vice versa.
The CHL hopes players will follow to money to Russia, but Malkin and other young Russian players have maintained that they want to play in the NHL, at least for now.
Headline Link: CHL offers Malkin contract
On June 20, the day of the NHL Draft, the Toronto Star’s Rick Westhead reported that the CHL, “in a move that would surely send a shock through the NHL,” had offered 21-year-old Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin a contract worth $12.5 a year, tax free. Under the NHL salary cap, a player cannot make more that $10.06 million a year, though that number is expected to gradually rise. Despite the pay raise, Malkin—who controversially left his Russian team in 2006—has expressed no interest in returning to Russia.
Source: Toronto Star
Background: The Continental Hockey League and the IIHF transfer agreement
Continental Hockey League
The CHL is the brainchild of Alex Medvedev, an executive at natural gas giant Gazprom. With investment from six other state-run companies, the league has enough money to overpay Russian, European and even North American players who might be lured away from the NHL. “If we’re able to draft players from the various European leagues, Canadians added to our talent in Russia, we’ll definitely be a serious contender to the NHL,” Russia’s Minister of Sport and Hockey Hall of Famer Slava Fetisov said.
Source: The Globe and Mail
In February, The New York Times profiled Alexei Yashin, a former NHL all-star playing in the Russian Superliga—the precursor to the CHL. Yashin was one of several prominent NHL veterans choosing to play in the league, which was improving in quality after many years of embarrassing decline. “Sooner or later, the National Hockey League is going to have to reckon with our league,” said the owner of Yashin’s team, “because, despite everything, we are getting stronger, not only in terms of players but in terms of our legal and financial protections.”
Source: The New York Times (free registration may be required)
IIHF Transfer Agreement
For the past 12 years, the Russian Hockey Federation was part of a transfer agreement between the NHL and International Ice Hockey Federation that stipulated when players could transfer and how much NHL teams would pay European teams. Last year, the Russian Hockey Federation refused to be part of the new four-year transfer deal, saying that the estimated $200,000 per player transfer fee wasn’t nearly enough.
Source: Toronto Star
Other IIHF federations backed out of the transfer agreement in December and there may not be a new deal in place for the 2008-09 season. NHL teams will no longer be forced to pay $200,000—a sum the federations thought was too low—for each player they bring over from Europe. IIHF president Rene Fasel was disappointed by the developments: “The IIHF tried to convince the European leagues and their clubs that an agreement is better than a situation where basically nothing is regulated. Two hundred thousand dollars is more than zero dollars.” The NHL says it will continue to honor European contracts and will not try to make transfers during the season.
Source: National Post
Opinion & Analysis: What effect does this have on the NHL?
The Globe and Mail’s Eric Duhatschek dismisses the threat posed by the CHL, citing the desire of Malkin and NHL draftees Nikita Filatov and Viktor Tikhonov to play in the NHL. Red Wings general manager Ken Holland believes that star players will want to play against the world’s best competition in the NHL. “I think that league is going to be good for the fringe player or the really good minor-leaguer and give them an opportunity to go and make some money,” Holland said.
Source: Globe and Mail
The Hockey News’ Ken Campbell says the lack of transfer agreement won’t affect the NHL’s ability to import European players. He believes the NHL was being generous by signing the agreements in the first place. “The league has made nice with the European federations for some time now more out of a sense of courtesy than anything else,” he writes. “Now that those federations have essentially turned their backs on the league, the NHL will carry on and they’ll now take European players for free.”
Source: The Hockey News
Related Topics: Russian soccer and basketball
Many of the same Russian tycoons investing in the CHL have invested in other sports, especially soccer. Gazprom-owned Zenit St. Petersburg won the 2008 UEFA Cup, beating European giants Bayern Munich along the way. Oil billionaire Roman Abramovich, owner of English soccer club Chelsea, has donated tens of million of dollars to Russia’s National Football Academy, which has helped to produce a national soccer team that has reached the semifinals of Euro 2008. “A lot of companies have invested in sports, and what you’re seeing now is a result of those investments,” said Alexei Krasnov, president of a sport marketing agency.
Source: Der Spiegel
Russian billionaires have attracted elite women’s basketball players to play in Russia during the WNBA off-season. One player, WNBA MVP runner-up Becky Hammon, was even persuaded to obtain Russian citizenship to sign a larger contract and play for Russia in the 2008 Olympics.
Source: ESPN
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