Campbell's Cuts: New transfer agreement of paramount importance
Alexander Semin played in Russia during the lockout even after the Capitals wanted him to play in the AHL. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
Ken Campbell
2008-09-08 16:01:10
Shortly after THN.com published comments from Kontinental Hockey League president Alexander Medvedev Saturday, somebody named “Kjetil A” emailed us with the following thought: “I submit that THN’s reaction here is somewhat naively hopeful.”
Well, “Kjetil A,” let me be the first to acknowledge you were absolutely right. In no way did we think the KHL’s proclamation - that it would be willing to go to binding arbitration in the case of Alexander Radulov and would not contest the NHL contracts signed by first-round picks Nikita Filatov and Viktor Tikhonov, along with three others – would create a panacea that would lead to harmony between the KHL and the NHL, but we did hopefully acknowledge that it might be a step in the right direction.
Wrong. The reality of the situation is that the NHL and KHL – along with the rest of Europe for that matter – are further away from having a system for an orderly and civilized transfer of players than ever before. And that’s not good, because it’s clear such a system is needed more than ever before.
Shortly after Medvedev said the KHL was extending an “open hand” to the NHL, deputy commissioner Bill Daly fired back with both barrels, essentially alleging the International Ice Hockey Federation doesn’t have the spine to stand up to Medvedev and that the KHL only made the concessions it did because it has no legal basis for its actions anyway.
The whole situation is a mess and it promises to get worse before it gets better. And, as is usually the case, the whole problem arises from selfish interests on both sides of the ocean. Until people who run hockey teams in the NHL and national federations in Europe start looking out for something beyond their own interests, there is little hope anything but chaos will continue when it comes to these battles over players.
The Canadian Hockey League owners make a ton of money on the backs of teenagers who make less per hour than the kid who flips burgers at McDonald’s, but they have found a way to live with the NHL raiding its ranks. Not so with Europe, a body the NHL is quickly finding more like dealing with seven individual federations than one.
On the surface, the KHL is taking a stand and its position is understandable. From its perspective, the NHL has been picking-off Russia’s best talent for years and as much as the NHL views Radulov as being under contract to the Nashville Predators, the Russians are as adamant that players such as Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Nikolai Zherdev were under contract when the NHL lured them away. The difference is that the NHL has court rulings – albeit U.S. court rulings – to back up their cases.
But the fact of the matter remains if there is a good Russian player out there, NHL teams will do whatever it takes to get him, regardless of whether there is a transfer agreement, regardless of his contract status and regardless of the ramifications to the rest of the league. NHL teams have always operated with their self-interests as the primary motivator and they’ll continue to do so.
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When the NHL locked out its players four years ago, the Washington Capitals wanted to send Alexander Semin to the minors, which they had every right to do since Semin was two years into his three-year, entry-level contract. Semin refused to go and instead signed a contract with Lada Togliatti in Russia, was immediately suspended by the Capitals and played in Russia for the next two seasons.
When Semin returned to the NHL in 2006-07, he should have been forced to comply with the final year of his entry-level contract because he never fulfilled it and was suspended by the team for the two seasons he was in Russia. But somehow, that final season was ignored and the Capitals, knowing Semin wouldn’t have returned for entry-level money, managed to sign him to a new two-year deal despite the fact he had not fulfilled the terms of his first contract.
When you see things like that happening, can you blame Radulov – who was contractually in exactly the same boat as Semin – for bolting back home at the first opportunity? If the NHL isn’t going to respect its own contracts, how can it expect anyone else to do the same?
And this is the kind of attitude both the leaders of the NHL and IIHF find themselves up against these days. NHL owners talk a good game, but are happy to circumvent their own rules and try to do business on their own terms if it means they can get a star player. The KHL, meanwhile, seems to want to play by its own set of rules and has little regard for the IIHF. Other European federations see what’s happening and are starting to stand up for their own interests, as well.
And it has all created a large mess. The NHL has said it is consulting with the Predators and the NHL Players’ Association about the possibility of arbitration in the Radulov case and three others, but the league will continue to dig in its heels on this because the sanctity of its contracts is at stake.
Which is why, amid the chaos, sanity will somehow have to prevail and an agreement will need to be struck that is forceful, binding and not open to any kind of interpretation. Because when it comes down to it, nobody involved in this dispute can be counted upon to be compromising.
How they do it in the current climate of discontent is anyone’s guess.
Ken Campbell is a senior writer for The Hockey News and a regular contributor to THN.com. His blog appears Tuesdays and Fridays and his column, Campbell's Cuts, appears Mondays.
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Wes W (Posted 2008-09-12 23:39:58)
What Semin did was wrong, and what Radulov is doing is wrong. If a contract is signed by two parties, it should be honoured. The Devils are also doing something wrong, by loaning a player under contract to a club in a different league and then being allowed to remove his salary from counting against the cap. If they signed him to that contract, then I think they should either be stuck with it or try to move him. I realize they are still paying his salary, but it is a cheap way for an NHL team to circumvent the rules.
Flyer guy 16 (Posted 2008-09-12 14:17:53)
I think Boris is just trying to get a rise out of us and it clearly worked. If he actually believes his own nonsense then I sorry for him.
Jack R (Posted 2008-09-11 18:55:32)
Boris: YOU ARE MENTAL!!!!!!!!!! The NHL is 20x times better than the KHL will ever be!!!! Just because you got Radulov and Jagr dosen't make the KHL better!!!! We have Crosby,the Sedins, Alfie, Sundin, Malkin, AND EVEN Nabokov and Ovie. AND THERE'RE RUSSIAN!!!!!!!!!!!! So why don't you go back in the hole you live in and forget that the KHL will EVER be beter then the NHL.
R.C. (Posted 2008-09-10 16:59:13)
What concerns me is this: Semin was allowed to return to his team and sign a 2nd contract after skipping out on the final year of his entry level contract (while suspended), for the simple reason that WSH would never get him back otherwise. The question here is, does the team have the ability to choose whether a player should or shouldnot play out their contract, or does the league enforce that? What if Radulov returns after two seasons and wants a second contract at market value? Can and will Nashville choose to ignore the fact he bailed out on his entry level contract and sign him to a new contract or will they force him to play out his entry level contract? If it takes bringing Radulov back, and the league allows them to do so, they'll sign him to a new contract. What if then this becomes a habit with European players to sign entry level contracts with NHL clubs, then bail on them for three years after signing more lucrative contracts elsewhere, and then return for market value contracts in the NHL? For those players that are after the money, it has to be a consideration so long as another league provides it. Worse, what happens when north american players start doing it? It seems incredulous that such a thing could happen, but it's a loophole that needs fixing regardless. Players can't skip out on contracts, and those that due, then that player has two options. Either fulfill it eventually, or never come back.
R. C. (Posted 2008-09-10 14:56:02)
Hockey needs a governing body to manage all players contracts for all pro leagues. The NHL can govern the contracts for it's own league but must report all contracts to this higher body. Same for all the other professional leagues. If a player is under contract with one league and signs a contract with another team in another league, this governing body has the authority to investigate and uphold\disallow one of the contracts. And it's authority and decisions must be binding and enforceable so that all teams in all leagues comply. This also brings up the need for a standardized contract, with standardized rules to be used by all leagues for it to acceptable and recognized by this international body.
The issue of transfer rights is about the stupidest thing I have ever heard. No team, no league owns a player because of his nationality. For the Russions, or any other European team\league to say they deserve "transfer fees" simply because of that players nationality is a gross over assumption of ownership that they simply do not have. It's a players right to play where he chooses. Free agents sign with the teams of their choice, in the league of their choice and there is nothing no team, no league can do about it. Period. If the issue was to create a transfer agreement for players under contract with another league, then I understand the need for a transfer fee. But if an international Hockey governing body were to be setup to manage, ratify, and authorize contracts for all players in all leagues to ensure no player can sign contracts with two leagues, and had the binding authority to render decisions and uphold\disallow contracts as required, then the need for a transfer agreement becomes moot.
Fidrat Dude (Posted 2008-09-09 18:07:30)
How about Nazarov? Guess he was a pioneer to leave the NHL for Russia!
Flyer guy 16 (Posted 2008-09-09 18:05:55)
Boris, you forgot about Yashin, the greatest hockey player to ever lace up a pair of skates!!!
Fidrat dude (Posted 2008-09-09 18:01:35)
Just realised you have a franchise going to Greenland, good one! lol
Fidrat dude (Posted 2008-09-09 17:14:10)
Then we're both happy! enjoy Ray emery this year. :)
Brian P (Posted 2008-09-09 16:56:45)
Hehe. Boris, you so crazy...
Boris (Posted 2008-09-09 14:53:19)
The KHL is already better than the NHL with Radulov and Jagr. It doesn't matter that the four best Russians (Ovechkin, Malkin, Nabakov, and Gonchar) in the world play in the NHL. In 5 years, Radulov will be the face of hockey all over the world, with the KHL having franchises Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Greenland, N Korea, and New York! The NHL better watch out for Russia, Radulov is hockey!
Fidrat dude (Posted 2008-09-09 13:09:27)
Russia used to call their professional Red Army team amateurs when in reality they were pro. Russia claims certain players are under contract since the laws, in Russia, are that contracts automatically renew and now flip-flop to say they were not under contract. The KHL signs Radulov (and someone else I think) and then the very NEXT DAY wants an agreement with the NHL to honour each others contracts. Mark Gandler has often had his players (mostly Russian) sign contracts and then the next year they'll hold out for more money. Given the history of poor relations (I omitted using the word "lies" as I think there's an entrenched cultural difference) from Russia and Russians with the NHL, what would make anyone think the KHL would honour any agreement? Ask Georgia about trusting Russia. Go ahead Boris, call me a bigot, that seems to be your style.
Boris (Posted 2008-09-09 11:21:57)
Comparing the NHL's absorption of the WHA to the present situation and then predicting that the NHL will expand to Europe seems naive to me. The whole "the NHL can survive anything and doesn't even need russians or euros" attitude that abounds in readers comments is beyond naive - it is foolish. The NHL that swallowed the WHA was a healthy growing league. The "New NHL" that Gary Bettman steers has become a minor sport with a dwindling marketshare and serious problems besetting it on all sides. The KHL poses a threat because in the meantime hockey has grown considerably in the international market and professional european leagues are now thriving. The NHL's executive officer's failure to recognize this and adjust to the current circumstances - through diplomatically seeing that a transfer agreement gets done - way well have disastrous results for the NHL down the road. While some NHL fans may have belligerent attitudes towards the KHL, russian players etc, it is not the fan's responsibility to fis this situation. The belligerence of the NHL, Daly in particular, is reckless and stupid. Ken Campbell has maybe seen the writing on the wall though - at any rate - he seems to recognize that the transfer agreement is important to the NHL in a way that it wouldn't have been in the past. Things change, only ostriches hide their heads in the snow ... trusting the people who brought us the NHL lockout a few years ago to manage a new transfer agreement is like expecting Osama bin laden to broker peace in the middle east.
K.D. (Posted 2008-09-09 09:19:58)
I don't understand why the N.H.L. even worries about a transfer agreement. The NHL would survive without any players from Russia or Europe. If the Russian players want to go home, let them go. If they don't want to come to North America let them stay. North America has enough home grown talent to keep a healthy NHL going. Let the money stay here. There will always be international hockey to prove who is better. The fact of the matter is the KHL will fold down the road when nobody can pay admission and all those players will be begging to come back to the NHL. If they don't, so what. Any Russian or Euorpean player who honours his contract has morals and will more than likely be an asset to the NHL. The NHL will survive no matter what. I doubt the Russian league will survive once all the NHL washed up players show up on its shores.
T.B. (Posted 2008-09-09 07:53:34)
I think this whole thing is the beginning of a new era in hockey. The last time the NHL was threatened (by the WHA), it expanded, swallowed up their competition and thrived for a decade or so. Now the NHL will expand to Europe and make the NHL the first global game. This is a good thing.
tsäbä (Posted 2008-09-09 04:14:39)
How can the IIHF accomplish anything when two major powers, namely North America and Russia opposes it when ever there´s a chance to do so? It´s easy to point the finger at someone else.. but please, DO NOT call IIHF spineless, if you don´t have something else to offer.
Boris (Posted 2008-09-09 00:38:42)
I have to say that this seems to me the most neutral, fair and even-handed discussion of the NHL/KHL debacle yet to appear on THN's website...and it was written by Ken Campbell???!! I feel like I have entered that new wing-world in the KFC commercials where "anything is possible" ... maybe even a interleague transfer agreement that all parties even abide by??? No...Ken Campbell may surprise me, but Daley and the NHL surely won't. Yes, we have all been aware that the IIHF is a empty and meaningless entity. But when there was still the possibility (in some people's minds at least) that they could "rule" in Daley and the NHL's favor they were "Hockey's Governing Body"....Really? Really Amy Pohler? Really?
Brian P (Posted 2008-09-09 00:12:17)
Of course the IIHF doesn't have the spine to stand up to the KHL. What did Bill Daly expect? The IIHF is a toothless bureaucracy. They've proven it every time they've been at odds with the NHL, did the NHL really think they'd grow a spine when they were dealing with anybody else? As for the rest, well, this is exactly why some people are saying the NHL is getting a taste of their own medicine, they've been more than willing to circumvent their own rules and the rules of other leagues to get the players they want in the past, it's a bit hollow for them to cry foul now. Oh, and it's nice to see you get another shot in at the Canadian Hockey League when it has absolutely nothing to do with the rest of your article there, Ken.
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