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of course there are still good russian players still being born in russia. its just that under the present circumstances, its far too risky to pick them with anything other than late round flyer picks. there is no transfer agreement, there is a domestic league there paying big bucks with puny taxes, so it is far too likely that young russian players will just decide to play at home for MORE money than come here and try to work their way up through the minors to crack the NHL.
unless we have the next ovechkin who we're pretty sure is ready to step right in and have an impact, and who has said unequivocally that they are coming over, i don't want to draft a russian. we've been burned too often in the past and it has put us in the situation we are in now.
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