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Sergei Kostitsyn would like to stay in KHL after lockout
It really doesn't matter. He'll be back in the NHL once the lock out is over unless he decides to break his contract, which I doubt he will do. I was merely taking issue with this persistent desire around here to turn everything into a "I told you so" type of competition. When SK came here it was as a reclamation project, and it worked. Ignoring that now that he is doing what several other NHLers are doing is silly, especially when it's just to mock "people" who supposedly said or thought Nashville "stole" him.
It's not that surprising that he'd prefer to stay at home, given the xenophobic attitudes about Russians in general as well as the disappearance of the Eastern European "middle class" in the NHL these days. You don't see too many of those Igor Korolev/Jan Hrdina echelon type players populating the NHL anymore we used to have in the 90s.
Does the article give the name of his agent? Plenty of European players have both North American and European agents, and they often say conflicting things. If this is coming from his Euro agent, I wouldn't put much weight in it at all. Just trying to raise the value of his client in Europe.
This article does hint at something I have been wondering. This agreement between the NHL and KHL might be not as ironclad as some think. If the opportunity presents itself to take the right high-profile members back would the KHL hesitate?
The IIHF would be put in a rather interesting place. As usually it takes all three parties departing league, IIHF and new league to sign off on a player moving. However the NHL has never treated the IIHF with a great level of respect and the Olympic debate from NHL owners positions certainly has to make them worried.
How would the IIHF do if they barred the KHL from the Olympics on Russian soil? Really puts them in a heck of a spot if the NHL does do salary rollbacks and some of the players try not coming back.
If I am the IIHF I probably side with the KHL. The NHL makes my life a little harder than it has to be anyway. I put the pressure on Canada and USA stinking in the Olympics and the pressure applied to the NHL to drag them back. They stage world championships in Europe and need to favor their European partners if push really comes to shove.
It gets tricky in that aspect. I am just not as sure as some that they can enforce these contracts as well as people think if the players push to never come back to the NHL.
This article does hint at something I have been wondering. This agreement between the NHL and KHL might be not as ironclad as some think. If the opportunity presents itself to take the right high-profile members back would the KHL hesitate?
The IIHF would be put in a rather interesting place. As usually it takes all three parties departing league, IIHF and new league to sign off on a player moving. However the NHL has never treated the IIHF with a great level of respect and the Olympic debate from NHL owners positions certainly has to make them worried.
How would the IIHF do if they barred the KHL from the Olympics on Russian soil? Really puts them in a heck of a spot if the NHL does do salary rollbacks and some of the players try not coming back.
If I am the IIHF I probably side with the KHL. The NHL makes my life a little harder than it has to be anyway. I put the pressure on Canada and USA stinking in the Olympics and the pressure applied to the NHL to drag them back. They stage world championships in Europe and need to favor their European partners if push really comes to shove.
It gets tricky in that aspect. I am just not as sure as some that they can enforce these contracts as well as people think if the players push to never come back to the NHL.
Correct on all accounts, but I just don't think the salary rollback is going to have such a huge impact. High-profile players like Ovechkin and Malkin would still make more money in the NHL than in the KHL, so they can complain all they want, but I don't really see them leaving. The real issue IMO is NHL participation in the 2014 Olympics. If the NHL said no to the Sotchi Games it would be a slap in the face of Russia and the Russian players. If the NHL owners really want to drop out of the Olympics then after 2014 please, otherwise a full-flight transatlantic war is almost guaranteed.
Correct on all accounts, but I just don't think the salary rollback is going to have such a huge impact. High-profile players like Ovechkin and Malkin would still make more money in the NHL than in the KHL, so they can complain all they want, but I don't really see them leaving. The real issue IMO is NHL participation in the 2014 Olympics. If the NHL said no to the Sotchi Games it would be a slap in the face of Russia and the Russian players. If the NHL owners really want to drop out of the Olympics then after 2014 please, otherwise a full-flight transatlantic war is almost guaranteed.
I actually don't think they can make more in the NHL versus the KHL. Just the top flight I am talking about but Kovy, Malkin, Datsyuk and Ovie could all get around the same dollar figure or maybe more in the KHL. Kovy's agent even after he signed in New Jersey claimed he got his biggest offer from KHL, so I believe it can happen. This doesn't even account for the fact it could be tax free. I think these guys are here for the competition factor, money I still believe for those four players can be beat by staying at home. I don't think the league will do rollbacks, of course should point out at the same time the KHL did do rollbacks very recently so they should be careful about complaining about this and then signing with that particular league.
Last edited by The Zetterberg Era: 09-20-2012 at 04:48 AM.
Reason: my mistake meant to say KHL.
I actually don't think they can make more in the NHL versus the KHL. Just the top flight I am talking about but Kovy, Malkin, Datsyuk and Ovie could all get around the same dollar figure or maybe more in the KHL.
I am ready to believe it when they start to lure those players away from the NHL. Until then I'm sceptical.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RedWings19405
Kovy's agent even after he signed in New Jersey claimed he got his biggest offer from New Jersey
I assume the sentence was supposed to read: "...biggest offer from the KHL."
We don't know whether it's actually true what the agent said. There was negative publicity in North America when Sankt Petersburg made their offer. "If Kovalchuk doesn't want to compete with the best then good riddance, have fun in a league that rewards laziness with a big paycheck etc etc." What the agent said paints Kovalchuk in a different light so maybe it was a PR move.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RedWings19405
This doesn't even account for the fact it could be tax free.
Taxes are lower, but it's not tax free.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RedWings19405
I think these guys are here for the competition factor
It really doesn't matter. He'll be back in the NHL once the lock out is over unless he decides to break his contract, which I doubt he will do. I was merely taking issue with this persistent desire around here to turn everything into a "I told you so" type of competition. When SK came here it was as a reclamation project, and it worked. Ignoring that now that he is doing what several other NHLers are doing is silly, especially when it's just to mock "people" who supposedly said or thought Nashville "stole" him.
To be fair, I think it's only Montreal fans who ever thought that. And Nashville still got a few pretty decent years out of Sergei which is more than we got out of Dustin Boyd and Dan Ellis.
Sergei was a wreck here. Glad he was gone. Happy for him it worked out somewhere else.
Signing a contract with Ilya Kovalchuk general manager Alexei Kasatonov SKA seemed to hold his song. When talk of a lockout has only just begun, the legendary hockey player was one of the most consistent opponents of expensive invitations NHL players during the lockout, if they can not stay in our league for the whole season.
And Kasatonov signs of one of the most expensive Russian NHL players - just such overseas employers who will not leave - the season to finish the game in a different league for nothing, if its main North American Championship Hockey League will be able to save.
Last edited by spiny norman: 09-20-2012 at 10:31 PM.
Reason: added translation link, please quote only a fraction of article
This is all pointless and doesn't mean anything. Of course he would love to play near home AS LONG AS there is a lockout. However, he just signed a new contract with Nashville a few months back. He will be back and yes we "stole" him.
LOL 
