The International Ice Hockey Federation took stern action today suspending the contracts of Alexander Radulov and five other players while it investigates their transfers. Radulov signed a contract on July 5 with Ufa of the new Russian Kontinental Hockey League.
In addition to Radulov, the IIHF has also suspended the contracts of Nikita Filatov of Columbus, Thomas Mojzis and Jason Krog of Vancouver, Fedor Fedorov of New Jersey and Viktor Tikhonov of Phoenix.
"Until this investigation has come to its final conclusion and the IIHF has rendered its decisions, all concerned players will be suspended from international transfers and competitions," said the IIHF in a statement released through their website.
In a separate statement IIHF President Rene Fasel indicated his hope that the situation could be resolved in a timely manner that was acceptable to all sides.
For their part the KHL indicated their acceptance of the IIHF investigation but rejected the idea of suspending contracts.
"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.
The KHL indicated their opposition was grounded in the fact that no agreement has yet been signed to govern transfers with the NHL. This comes after reports that the two sides had reached agreement on the topic but had not yet signed any formal paperwork.
"The mentioned players should not be made 'scapegoats' due to the fact that the Memorandum of Agreement has not been signed between the KHL and the NHL. In the absence of a signed Memorandum of Agreement between the KHL and the NHL, it is important to remember that the player is under contract with the individual clubs and the KHL can only enforce any such agreements with the NHL, once the Memorandum has been signed by all parties."
While Radulov has received the lion's share of attention, the KHL has also formally protested Nikita Filatov's contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Filatov, who was the sixth overall pick in this year's draft, was still under contract with CSKA Moscow according to the KHL.
In addition Jason Krog also finds himself mired in this mess after it was reported last week that he signed a deal with KHL team Severstal Cherepovets before signing with the Canucks.
Regardless of the outcome of these situations one thing is clear: The NHL and KHL need to reach some form of formal agreement. This is already beginning to spiral out of hand and its not beneficial to either league to have ambiguity regarding the transfer process.
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2 months ago
The general manager of Cherepovets, Viktor Tikhonov's former team in Russia, has said in interviews that Tikhonov has no contract with the team and is free to sign wherever he wants. He should be out of this quick, not that it matters since he is too old for the WJC and the olympics are still 2 years away.
2 months ago
this is crazy, this whole KHL crap...i just want it to end already
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