I will start to get worried when mid-range players who teams are genuinely interested in signing head off to Russia. You'll always see fringe Russian guys like Saprykin heading home and the same is true for waiver-worthy players like Simon.
I'm still not sold that Russia will be an attractive option to second-tier free agents like Ladislav Nagy or Miroslav Satan who are likely set to earn around $4M next year in the NHL.
They don't have the capacity to compete long term profitably. Eventually they will tire of losing money and the experiment will be over.
So what if a few players go over there, even big names. Unless it can run profitably long-term it won't bother me at all. Of course with smaller venues, less disposable income and being a less desirable place to live I am not too concerned about it.
Do people lose interest in the EPL with some of their players go to Spain? The logo on the front matters more than the name on the back.
I will start to get worried when mid-range players who teams are genuinely interested in signing head off to Russia. You'll always see fringe Russian guys like Saprykin heading home and the same is true for waiver-worthy players like Simon.
I'm still not sold that Russia will be an attractive option to second-tier free agents like Ladislav Nagy or Miroslav Satan who are likely set to earn around $4M next year in the NHL.
It's not just Russia, which is why it's called the Continental Hockey League.
They plan on having teams in Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany.
As someone said in the Grebs, thread, ignoring them could be folly.
The new league will offer many players another option not only as a place to play but also as a card to play in contract negotiations.
I don't think it's wise to underestimate them...Grebs agent has already played the card and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he's playing in Europe next season.
They don't have the capacity to compete long term profitably. Eventually they will tire of losing money and the experiment will be over.
So what if a few players go over there, even big names. Unless it can run profitably long-term it won't bother me at all. Of course with smaller venues, less disposable income and being a less desirable place to live I am not too concerned about it.
Do people lose interest in the EPL with some of their players go to Spain? The logo on the front matters more than the name on the back.
Do you have a link to the financial resources or business plan of the new league or are you just making rash assumptions?
"As measured by its market capitalization as of May 2008 (US$348 billion),[8] Gazprom is the world's third largest corporation following this measure.[9] Former Gazprom chairman Dmitry Medvedev hopes that the company's market capitalization will quadruple to reach one trillion dollars by 2017, and that this would make it the world's biggest corporation.[10]"
Do you have a link to the financial resources or business plan of the new league or are you just making rash assumptions?
"As measured by its market capitalization as of May 2008 (US$348 billion),[8] Gazprom is the world's third largest corporation following this measure.[9] Former Gazprom chairman Dmitry Medvedev hopes that the company's market capitalization will quadruple to reach one trillion dollars by 2017, and that this would make it the world's biggest corporation.[10]"
Think of Gazprom as 175 Daryl Katz' for perspective.
And they're just one owner.
People get tired of losing money after a while.
When you have coliseums that hold 10,000 or less and fans that don't have the capacity to pay $100+ for a seat, you cannot compete by offering $10 million contracts to NHL stars.
After a while losing money will become old and this league will settle for lesser talent.
But it's not like they're starting from scratch, they're putting together a league with teams that have been around for years.
It's interesting to see the random past NHL players in random Russian cities. Simon's teammates will include Darcy Verot, Nathan Perrott, Oleg Kvasha, Alex Korolyuk, to name a few, unless of course they transfer in the offseason.
When you have coliseums that hold 10,000 or less and fans that don't have the capacity to pay $100+ for a seat, you cannot compete by offering $10 million contracts to NHL stars.
After a while losing money will become old and this league will settle for lesser talent.
And, do you really believe Europeans don't have the capacity to pay for NHL-priced hockey tickets?
I'd do the research for you but, trust me, there are many people in Russia, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland and Germany who can afford to buy tickets.
Perhaps you should stop being so ethnocentric and provincial.
It's not just Russia, which is why it's called the Continental Hockey League.
They plan on having teams in Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany.
As someone said in the Grebs, thread, ignoring them could be folly.
The new league will offer many players another option not only as a place to play but also as a card to play in contract negotiations.
I don't think it's wise to underestimate them...Grebs agent has already played the card and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he's playing in Europe next season.
How do you know that Grebs agent has already played that card. It's just speculation on the writers point. KL has stated if Grebs has a good season they'll start negotiating in January. KL also stated that Grebs agent was gun shy.
__________________ "He just ate up Robyn Regehr for dinner, a spectacular play by Hemsky, and Robyn Regehr has got doo doo all over his face" - Rod Phillips call on Hemsky's goal vs the Flames
The Trevor Kidds of the world have been snatched from our teams for some time now. Until it's a big news making player, it doesn't merit much attention.
Isnt this league supposed to have a cap in the 20 million$ range, if this is true they will be unable to "overpay" to get an legit talent to play there.
They don't have the capacity to compete long term profitably. Eventually they will tire of losing money and the experiment will be over.
So what if a few players go over there, even big names. Unless it can run profitably long-term it won't bother me at all. Of course with smaller venues, less disposable income and being a less desirable place to live I am not too concerned about it.
Do people lose interest in the EPL with some of their players go to Spain? The logo on the front matters more than the name on the back.
I think you overlook one crucially important thing. In Putin's Russia, professional sports are not about making money. For owners, the sports clubs are toys, marking their status within the community of the similarly wealthy Russians and not infrequently an important vehicle for realizing their political ambitions (and getting even wealthier, as a result).
Also, just like the Soviet Union of the Cold War, in today's Russia sports perform a very important symbolic and ideological function. Russian teams' and individual athletes' sports accomplishments are often instrumentalized by the state media and ordinary citizens as an extra proof of national greatness, especially vis-a-vis the "West."
So, losing money will never be a consideration to the indivviduals bathing in oil and natural gas revenues, when such important issues are at stake.
And, do you really believe Europeans don't have the capacity to pay for NHL-priced hockey tickets?
I'd do the research for you but, trust me, there are many people in Russia, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland and Germany who can afford to buy tickets.
Perhaps you should stop being so ethnocentric and provincial.
You started this thread so you could accuse people of being racist, didn't you?
They could pull it off if they focus on the corporate community IMO. The problem for the NHL is that they are so gate-driven, its a negative, not a positive, the size of stadiums and price of tickets for the European teams could be irrelevent if the game can grow through sponsorship and TV. Drive popularity that way and then you can increase the ticket prices due to scarcity. Then grow slowly with that.
There's a big difference between being ethnocentric and racist.
Considering Europeans are, for the most part, the same race as most of us, how could you possibly infer racism?
Definition 1:the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture.
Definition 2: a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
Most of the leagues in Europe have a cap. The RSL does, and that reported Jagr offer a while back actually couldn't be possible because it would exceed the maximum salary for one player as written in the rules of the RSL cap.
If this CHL does as well, I don't see how they could feasibly sign star players for more than NHL teams could on a cumulative basis. Sure, there will be some homesick Europeans and some North Americans who will go over from time to time, but it doesn't look like the star power is in any immediate danger of being "drained" from the NHL.
__________________
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"Pull yourself together!" - Solid Snake to Otacon, multiple times in the series
Isnt this league supposed to have a cap in the 20 million$ range, if this is true they will be unable to "overpay" to get an legit talent to play there.
True that, Mr. Bean.
It's more of an attraction to young, relatively unproven NHL RFAs who lack leverage in contract negotiations, or over-the-hill veterans with holes in their game that desire an easier level of competition.
The day a legit North American-born NHL talent ($3.0M+) rejects an NHL offer to sign to that league, THEN we have news.
Definition 1:the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture.
Definition 2: a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
Are those definitions really so different?
A belief that the hockey world revolves around the NHL is indeed ethnocentric in the usual usage of the word - a tendency to view alien groups or cultures from the perspective of one's own. Ethnocentrism is common on this board - racism isn't.
A belief that the hockey world revolves around the NHL is indeed ethnocentric in the usual usage of the word - a tendency to view alien groups or cultures from the perspective of one's own. Ethnocentrism is common on this board - racism isn't.
I think the belief that the NHL is the best league in the world rather accurately reflects the reality, at least at the present juncture. I am not Canadian by birth, but living in Canada I will not be thrilled if some of the world's best players pack their suitcases and go to play in Russia or Sweden. But that's not ethnocentrism,-- egoism maybe...
Ethnocentrism would be saying that people in those countries do not deserve world's best players performing for them.
I think the belief that the NHL is the best league in the world rather accurately reflects the reality, at least at the present juncture. I am not Canadian by birth, but living in Canada I will not be thrilled if some of the world's best players pack their suitcases and go to play in Russia or Sweden. But that's not ethnocentrism,-- egoism maybe...
Ethnocentrism would be saying that people in those countries do not deserve world's best players performing for them.
I look at the creation of a strong alternate European league as what's required to take hockey to its next logical developmental step. Anyone who lived through the Original Six and subsequent expansions knows all the arguments on both sides. Maybe the number of NHL teams still isn't right but I don't think anyone wants to go back to 6 teams.
An article in the Saturday Globe about the growing number of Sunbelt state players in the WHL treated this as the legacy of NHL teams in California, Arizona and Texas. More interest, more rinks, more teams, more players etc. to the point that good players are developing and being drafted.
This is what can happen if top calibre hockey is placed in non-traditional hockey markets. Europe has more of a base than Southern California but the point is still that the game expands over time with more interest, more rinks etc. Again, if there is some dilution of the NHL game to make that happen, so be it. If hockey continues to grow as an international sport, everyone wins.
I don't want to see Grebs go to Russia any more than I like to see Canadian jobs going to the subcontinent but think we have to step back and let the global marketplace do its thing.
Besides, I'd love to see an international playoff series to determine the best club team in the world. Oilers vs AkBars Kazan for all the marbles? Can't happen soon enough for me!
Definition 1:the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture.
Definition 2: a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
Are those definitions really so different?
Yes they are unless you think "ethnic group or culture" equals "race" which it doesn't..
