I laughed when I first heard the news...I laughed harder when I watched the video because of the same red card thought hat popped in my head.
remember when semin was laying on the ice like he had been killed and the trainer wouldnt even come off the bench? guess what's coming....if he shows up
Evgeny Kuznetsov Top ranked prospect in THN's "Future Watch" 2012
Got my issue in the mail today guys!
Nugent-Hopkins, Hall and Eberle on the cover
Top 10:
1. Evgeny Kuznetsov
2. Mikael Granlund
3. Jonathan Huberdeau
4. Dougie Hamilton
5. Mika Zibanejad
6. Vladimir Tarasenko
7. Mark Scheifele
8. Jacob Markstrom
9. Ryan Strome
10. Brandon Gormley
Congrats! You guys have a future star on your hands. I was really high on him in his draft year, and it looks like the chance your team took on him is going to pay off.
And for the record, the top 50 rankings come from a panel of NHL scouts, and not the THN staff.
I think it strongly depends on playoffs and WC. If Traktor fails(with or without him) and the NT fails he'll definitely leave for NA. He also made it clear that he's looking for a long-term deal from Traktor, like 10yrs long. If I were the GM I wouldn't give him that just because in the 10yrs he definitely could just bolt to NA.
The ones that develop in the CHL of course will come over faster. KHL ones have seemed to want to stay in the KHL for a year or 2 more.
I think though Vasilevski is gonna come over fast because he seems stuck in the MHL, despite the fact he probably should be a starter at least.
I don't see whats up with the recent crap people been saying around here that he isn't coming over. I just can't imagine he wants to be in such a small venue playing with no on terrific, he wants to play with Ovi, he wants to be the player in 2014 playing on a line with Ovechkin in front of Russian fans for the Olympics.
I dunno if that last bit is the worst thing to happen.
Sure, you may not get the same 10 or 15 years out of a Superstar like you use to but they'll have more seasoning and better physically for the game.
I'd more so worry that they get big egos being in the KHL vs. the NHL though.
It definitely is a better choice now for russians to become a complete player first before making a decision on going to the NHL. It hink in the past a couple of player got lost in the process. It's not easy for everybody to adjust at age 17-19 to a new country, new language and a whole different hockey system. A lot of ppl in NA don't know that there is a major difference which is really hard to adjust to. From the societ years on there is not much freedom to a players training in Russia. A player gets every single exersize told from the coaches and pretty much has no say on how to work out and so on. In NA players are much more on their own. There are no such hockey schools like in Russia. A player decides alot of stuff for himself. What work outs to make, which trainig camps to attend. Some players coming from Russia adjust quickly to this system and understand that they have to work on their career without every single move being told to you by some coach or mentor. Bur some also have difficulties with it.
Regarding egos I think it's a personal thing. There always will be divas among players and modest and humble guys like Datsyuk. I don't think there will be a significant effect from the KHL. after all an NHL team doesn't have to offer a contact to anybody. If they think a guy who is a star or a decent player in the KHL already is worth a contract that's their decision.
The ones that develop in the CHL of course will come over faster. KHL ones have seemed to want to stay in the KHL for a year or 2 more.
I think though Vasilevski is gonna come over fast because he seems stuck in the MHL, despite the fact he probably should be a starter at least.
I don't see whats up with the recent crap people been saying around here that he isn't coming over. I just can't imagine he wants to be in such a small venue playing with no on terrific, he wants to play with Ovi, he wants to be the player in 2014 playing on a line with Ovechkin in front of Russian fans for the Olympics.
You are jumping the gun on Vasilevsky. He's 17. Even while he is so good now it's really early to throw him into the KHL. Btw he's in Ufa. They are a contender. You don't really think a contending team would easily rely on a 17yr old, regardless in the NHL or the KHL, do you? But they do have their goaltending issues. Their no.1 looks like he's going to leave in the offseason. There will be aroster spot for Vasilevsky if he chooses to stay.
On Kuznetsov. You don't realize that he has quite an ego himself. He wouldn't say but I don't think he really wants to play alogside Ovi being another second-to-Ovi-russian. Kuznetsov wants to be his own star which he is right now in his home town, which is huge point to him a fsct often not realized by ppl in NA. He wants to try NHL some day I think, but not necessarilly the next season. So there's a reason for all the buzz.
It's funny, because the exact opposite is happening. Yakupov, Grigorenko, Khokhlachev, Galiev, Burmistrov, Makarov, Kabanov, etc.
It's funny that some ppl dont't really check the facts. How many russians are in the NHL right now? Compare that to let's say 10 yrs ago.
The names you brought up are basically the last wave before the change I was speaking of. That was exactly the time when guys would pack it up and run to NA the moment there was a chance to do so. Ok, let's play the name game. Kuznetsov and Tarasenko are still in Russia. Thats 2 of the 3 2010 russian first rounders. Alexandrov, Tikhonov, Kitsyn, Pechurskiy all had their time in NA and came back to play in Russia. Somethuing that definitely wouldn't happen before. There are more names too. It's jaust an example-
Also regarding the guys in your list, they alle have reasons. Kabanov's reason is his Lindros-Sr. like father who managed to spoil his relationship with every single coach, player and fan he ever had contact with. Burmistrov, Makarov, Galiev and Yakupov both came from farnchise where they would have to wait to long to get a spot unlike Tarasenko and Kuznetsov. Khokhlachev came from a franchise which is mostly in total disarray now.
so the situation shifted from guys leaving for NA, just because to whre they leave if they don't have an option in Russia. The ones with a spot in Russia aren' jumping right away and take their time to make a decision.
What the KHL does is encourage the middling players to stay in Russia. That is why the number of Russians in the NHL is down. Frankly, those aren't the players anyone misses. They can be replaced with North American talent easily. Many of those types of players are expendable and easily replaceable. Many more North Americans of that talent level exist relative to the number of spots in the NHL.
The Russian stars will generally come over for the major dollars over the course of a full career.
There will probably always be a signature homegrown star of world-class talent, or a former NHL star of another nationality, like Jagr, in the KHL. There will always be exceptions.
Yet the NHL pool of top-end Russian talent isn't under threat, not unless payrolls across the board start to spike in the KHL. There are a select few Russian clubs with major payrolls, but it bottoms out very quickly.
This is the list of stars that the NHL has missed out on as a result of the KHL taking off:
1. Alexander Radulov, prime
2. Jaromir Jagr, age 38-39
That's about it. There are also some perennial KHL stars who have played in the NHL, guys like Morozov, whose stints in the NHL suggest they were not going to be NHL stars.
Now what are we looking at in the short term? Radulov may well return and the KHL is probably going to make a major push to keep Kuznetsov. They might succeed, yet while that would suck for Caps fans, it does not represent a systemic blow to the NHL's ability to attract talent. It doesn't make for a trend. It's a trickle.
It's funny that some ppl dont't really check the facts. How many russians are in the NHL right now? Compare that to let's say 10 yrs ago.
The names you brought up are basically the last wave before the change I was speaking of. That was exactly the time when guys would pack it up and run to NA the moment there was a chance to do so. Ok, let's play the name game. Kuznetsov and Tarasenko are still in Russia. Thats 2 of the 3 2010 russian first rounders. Alexandrov, Tikhonov, Kitsyn, Pechurskiy all had their time in NA and came back to play in Russia. Somethuing that definitely wouldn't happen before. There are more names too. It's jaust an example-
Also regarding the guys in your list, they alle have reasons. Kabanov's reason is his Lindros-Sr. like father who managed to spoil his relationship with every single coach, player and fan he ever had contact with. Burmistrov, Makarov, Galiev and Yakupov both came from farnchise where they would have to wait to long to get a spot unlike Tarasenko and Kuznetsov. Khokhlachev came from a franchise which is mostly in total disarray now.
so the situation shifted from guys leaving for NA, just because to whre they leave if they don't have an option in Russia. The ones with a spot in Russia aren' jumping right away and take their time to make a decision.
The number of Russians, and particularly high end Russians, in the CHL is increasing. That signifies that players are coming over at an earlier age, not a later one. And of course players have their reasons. Every player has his reasons.
Playing in the CHL is better than playing in Russian Juniors. Probably even better for development then 10 minutes of ice time in the KHL.
As long as that's the case, you're going to see more elite young Russians come over. Especially when they know it's financially better for them to be here and learn the game early.
For now and for the foreseeable future, the quality of competition in the NHL is vastly higher than in the K. As long as that is the case, top tier competitors will want to play here. That is why Ovie, Malkin, Datsyuk, Kovalev, etc. play here. That is why Jagr wanted to come back. As for Kuz, if he does not want to be here, it says to me that he's not a top competitor -- a top talent, clearly, but not competitor.
Russia is unpredictable.. plus KHL is a "national" pet project.. I don't think the issue of guaranteed contracts is insurmountable there, at least for the big teams. There seems to be an increasing number of players from Western Europe coming to play for Russian soccer teams, for example. I think KHL could quite possibly figure out a way to offer huge guaranteed money at least to the best young hockey players even if it means channeling them to the top (state-sponsored) teams.
I'm sure some/many top players, like the really competitive ones, will always want to try the NHL.. but I can see KHL putting a significant dam in that stream.
(" "alright... I'm flying away"
