The KHL: Threat Or Not?

The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) is being talked about a great deal as a threat to the National Hockey League.  This conclusion seems to be drawn from only several examples of established players crossing the Atlantic to ply their trade.  This, in my opinion, seems to be far from the truth and a great exaggeration.

The KHL was formed in 2008 as a successor to the Russian Superleague.  There really isn't very much difference between these two and yet suddenly the KHL is being deemed a legitimate challenge to the NHL's dominance. 

European leagues simply cannot compete with the NHL due to one main issue; money.  The markets aren't big enough and sponsership money is less ,therefore clubs in Sweden, Finland and Czech Republic among others cannot pay players top dollar, and so the quality of hockey isn't as good and therefore sponsorship money isn't big and the vicious circle continues. 

I'm not saying the hockey is boring and terrible, far from it. The hockey is still enjoyable and is very popular but with the resources of the NHL, these European clubs will not be able to tempt high calibre players.

Russia is the only country that can compete with the NHL in terms of money, but like the Swedish Elitserien and the Finnish SM-Liiga, the quality of hockey is not as good.  It's all very well offering to pay Evgeni Malkin $12.5 million tax free, but if the quality of hockey is lacking then why would any player of his talent and age want to leave the NHL.  The Russian teams are backed by both wealthy individuals; some rumours include Chelsea Football Club's owner Roman Abramovich part owning Jaromir Jagr's club Avangard Omsk; and state taxes.

The highest wage bill in the KHL in 2008 was a reported $19.02 million for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, where Alexei Yashin played. This shows that players on the whole are not the high earners they can be in North America and only several on each team command such exorbitant salaries. Therefore the problem remains that the quality is far less than that of the NHL.

Another weakness of the league is the infrastructure.  There were reports before the league started in 2008 of Dinamo Riga's goalie Edgars Masaļskis  being badly beaten by a gang and being sidelined for three months. The arenas that the the teams use range from a capacity of 2,900 to 12,300. That is significantly lower than the NHL whose lowest average attendance is 13,773 for the New York Islanders in 2009. 

The death of Alexei Cherepanov in October 2008 has been one of the main reasons why people know about the KHL.  This was an absolute tragedy and highlights a serious problem with the KHL.  There was a total lack of medical support in the arena, which if it had been there then Cherepanov may still be alive.  Detroit Red Wing defenceman Jiri Fischer suffered cardiac arrest in 2005 and was attended to immediately by medical staff with the proper equipment and he survived. 

Cherepanov's death is a tragedy that could have been avoided and one that will hang over the KHL's head forever.  The KHL have now named the rookie of the year honours after Cherepanov in a tribute to him. 

Journalists who write about a threat often support their view with the signings of Jaromir Jagr, Alexander Radulov and now Sergei Fedorov and Jiri Hudler among others.  The signings of Radulov and Hudler, often classed as day light robbery, are a shame as they are promising talents, particularly Radulov, but the NHL has 'robbed' Russia of talent as well. 

Evgeni Malkin was signed by Pittsburgh in 2006 which sparked a huge legal dispute between the NHL and Russian Ice Hockey Federation. Malkin was under contract with his existing team Metallurg Magnitogorsk but due to a supposed legal loop hole was able to get himself out of the contract.  Malkin remained in Pittsburgh and just won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's top scorer and a Stanley Cup. 

Radulov was under contract with Nashville but signed a deal to play for Salavat Ufa.  The NHL immediately complained but it has come to nothing.  That is just hypocrisy.  The NHL allowed one of their clubs to sign a contracted player but as soon as its one of their clubs that is 'robbed' of a player then they feel it is unjust.  Madness! 

More to the point though, Alexander Radulov is not a world class talent.  He is a very good young player but won't win a league scoring title in the NHL.  He will be missed by Nashville, but not as much as a young star like Malkin was missed by Magnitogorsk.

Jiri Hudler was a restricted free agent which means he can sign anywhere but the Red Wings would be compensated.  Dynamo Moscow's signing of him shouldn't cause so much of an uproar because he was a free agent.  Hudler did though file for salary arbitration which considering he then signed soon after with Dynamo wasn't particularly fair. 

He was completely within his right though to sign for any club he liked, even if it was a European club.  Players whose rights are owned by NHL clubs often sigh with clubs abroad, just not normally a player as well known as Hudler.  But once again like Radulov, Hudler is not a star player in the NHL. 

They both left because they were offered more money to play in Russia, Hudler apparently will get $5 million a year for two years.  That is considerably more than what he would have received in the NHL.  Radulov's signing did leave a gap in Nashville's roster but Pittsburgh did the same.  It has allowed young players to step up though and this will be the case with Hudler.  Younger players will now have a shot at a roster spot and that can only be good. 

The signings of players like Jagr and Fedorov don't have a great impact on NHL clubs.  Jagr's departure had the most but the Ranger's offence was pretty non existent behind Jagr anyway. But Fedorov, Sergei Brylin, John Grahame, Vitaly Vishnevski, Jozef Stumpel and Fredrik Norrena and other such players who have left for Russia are players who were struggling to find a contract for a reason, they were ageing and had declining skill levels and couldn't command the kind of contract that they could get in Russia. 

I don't believe there is any fan of these player's former clubs who are celebrating their departures.  The KHL clubs offered high salaries to these players as they had NHL experience and could teach youngsters and probably also because they are just as good as and if not better then the current crop of players in Russia.  Also the ability to have NHL experienced Russian players on a KHL team roster is a great advertisement for the league, even if they are past it.

Also the fact that Jaromir Jagr was very close to returning to the NHL with Edmonton this past trade deadline after not even a full season in the KHL shows that he isn't totally devoted and happy in Russia if he'd rather ply his trade on a struggling team. Sorry Edmonton fans!

The departure of Ray Emery was seen as another bad sign for the NHL but hes returned after only one season after having a financial dispute with his team in Russia, Atlant Moscow.  The Russian Ruble was devalued so his salary was reduced, not particularly an appealing option for players.  Emery went to Russia because no NHL team would take a chance on his character.  Thats another unwanted player who has followed the money to Russia, only to return when there is interest from a NHL club.

The KHL also has rules about only allowing 5 foreign players on the roster, so the claim that loads of non-Russian players will leave is false as its not allowed by the league itself.

The photo shows newly crowned KHL champions AK Bars Kazan lifting the Gagarin Cup.  This is the team that former Pittsburgh Penguin Aleksey Morozov plays for.  Morozov is seen as the first of the NHL calibre players to up sticks and join the then Russian Superleague in 2005.  He did this after playing there for one season during the lockout. 

Morozov's highest points tally in the NHL was his final season, 2003-2004, where he scored 16 and 50 points.  He commands a very high salary in Russia, somewhere in the region of $4.5 million.  He may have received this money in the NHL, but the question is was he a loss.  To the Penguins; no, as they are now Stanley Cup Champions and Morozov's departure didn't set them back.  It allowed them to bring in youngsters and build a winning team.  Most non Pittsburgh fans would now probably have to really think hard to remember who Morozov is and his time in the NHL.

There is talk that the KHL has invited some of Europe's biggest clubs to play there and create what would effectively be a pan European super league.  This is a good thing for ice hockey.  It would help to grow the game and produce more highly skilled players.  This could be viewed as a threat to the NHL but it can also be a good thing. 

Football (soccer) in Europe is the largest sport and there are five top leagues, England, Italy, Spain, Germany and France.  The quality of football does differ with Germany and France slightly behind but the English, Spanish and Italian leagues are on a par.  The leagues are full of foreign players from all over the world and having multiple top leagues has not diluted the talent.  If anything the quality is better as teams have to compete across Europe to do well and get the best players.  There are also a great deal of home grown talent in these leagues, something which can only be good.

This could happen in the ice hockey world but not for at least 20 years at best.  But the point is it's not a bad thing.  The talent levels could increase and the sport could become truly global.  But that's only if this expanded KHL is introduced, something far from certain.  So the KHL at the moment is still far behind the NHL.

The KHL arguably isn't even the top European league.  Many believe the Swedish league is superior and has the highest quality of ice hockey in Europe.  This can be shown by the number of Swedish players taken in this year's draft.  Seven, the most ever, were taken in the first round this year with three in the top 10 being headlined by one Victor Hedman and 24 being taken the whole draft. 

That's pretty impressive considering this is a country with a population of just over nine million and doesn't have such elite ice hockey training.  I would probably agree that the Swedish league is better as there are fewer teams and less money so the talent pool is much more even, rather than the KHL who have a player like Jaromir Jagr lining up against a player like Evgeny Khatseyi, and if you say you've heard of him you're a liar.

An analogy that may be more relevant for North American readers is this.  It would be like the Hartford Wolf Pack suddenly being backed by a wealthy individual who can offer competitive salaries to NHL players.  Which NHL player whose departure leaves the NHL reeling is going to sign with Hartford.  The answer would be most likely zero.

The KHL is not an immediate threat to the NHL.  I think the points I have put forward pretty much show that.  I'm not saying the quality of ice hockey in the KHL is poor, its not, i'm a huge fan of European hockey as it is very entertaining.  It is probably the third best league in the world behind the NHL and Swedish Elitserien, but the gap between the NHL and the rest is large. 

The infrastructure is a huge problem that is now being looked at, especially the medical issues, but if I was an NHL star i'm not sure it would be a selling point for me.  The players that have left are not stars.  Only few of them are actually good, a reason why players leave to for Russia, because they can't get a contract in the NHL.  The KHL's growth doesn't have to be a threat though, it can be a great thing for the game.

But a threat the KHL certainly is not!