Will Radulov’s exit lead to Preds’ worst-case scenario?
Much of this is posturing when the NHL and the Kontinental Hockey League still have issues to work out about future player transfers, but it sounds like it could lead to a worst-case scenario for the Preds:
Calling Alexander Radulov’s jump to a Russian team an issue of the past, Continental Hockey League president Alexander Medvedev said Monday “it’s time to look to the future.” That comment and others did nothing to thaw an icy relationship between the KHL and the NHL in the wake of Radulov signing a three-year deal with Salavat Yulaev Ufa last month despite having a year left on his contract with the Predators.
Medvedev is pushing for a signed transfer agreement with the NHL — a formal set of rules governing player movement between countries — and says it would eliminate these kinds of situations in years to come. “We need a strict enforceable scheme that will fix all the rights and the positions of the players on both sides of the ocean,” he said.
But NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said a meeting between the two sides to discuss the transfer agreement is now in jeopardy. “I don’t know whether the Sept. 4 meeting will go forward or not,” Daly said. “We are happy to discuss a possible transfer agreement, but the Radulov issue needs to be resolved first.”
The International Ice Hockey Federation is investigating the signing of Radulov, as well as the contracts of five other players involved in transfers between the two leagues. The IIHF is expected to announce a ruling soon, but Medvedev said he doesn’t expect it to make much of an impact on Radulov’s situation. Because there was no transfer agreement in place between Russia and the NHL at the time of Radulov’s signing, Medvedev said the deal broke no rules. “I don’t see the legal arguments to force the player to come back,” he said.
It will be grossly unfair for the Preds if Radulov’s departure and breach of contract turn out to be the wake-up call that lead the NHL to agree to terms with the KHL on player movement. If both sides agree that the damage is done and try to move on, the Preds are hurt even more than if no agreement exists between the leagues: Other teams won’t lose their Russian stars while Nashville already has. Daly doesn’t sound resigned to that result yet, and I hope he and the NHL maintain that position.
