Dr. Medvedev, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the KHL/NHL Unofficial Transfer Agreement
This man desperately wants Tomas Mojzis and Jason Krog to play hockey for him
It’s good that the Kontinental Hockey League and the NHL have hammered out that informal transfer agreement, because when the IIHF suspends six players for possibly illegal transfers to and from the new league, it really helps the process to have everyone cooperat…
“We do not accept the idea of suspending the contracts because this has not been agreed on by KHL and NHL,” said KHL President Alexander Medvedev in a statement.
Oh.
Well to be fair, this isn’t just anyone they’re suspending. It’s Alexander Radulov, Nikita Filatov, Thomas Mojzis, Jason Krog, Fedor Fedorov and Viktor Tikhonov. When Jason Krog can’t play, you might as well shut the whole hockey world down.
It doesn’t bother me that these players got suspended. They signed contracts and should have honor them. But to have the Russians want it to work both ways is embarrassing to the league, unsurprising though the revelations may be.
Medvedev is pissed because all five that aren’t Radulov signed North American deals.
- Filatov, the fifth overall pick in this year’s draft, is still property of CSKA Moscow.
- Tikhonov signed with the Coyotes on July 1 even though he’s considered Severstal Cherepovets property, as is Krog, who signed a deal with the Russian team in May before signing with Vancouver a few weeks ago.
- Feodorov signed with New Jersey after playing with Dynamo Moscow last year.
- Mojzis, it seems, played roller hockey in the World Championships last year and apparently has signed with the Wild organization.
On the other hand, despite Radulov being in the middle of a deal with Nashville, his signing with Ufa is perfectly acceptable to the Ruskies. This is the reason we had a Cold War, Russia. Unless you want some nukes tilted toward Bashkortostan, you’d better give us back Radulov posthaste.
