Pushing the Envelope
July 10th, 2008 by Jason ChenThe IIHF-NHL transfer agreement was front and centre back in late 2006 when Russia rejected a new agreement proposal from the NHL. Soon after, Sweden followed suit on January 1, 2007, and since then no agreement has been put in place. Since then, it had indirectly affected the entry draft, in which we saw Alexei Cherepanov and Nikita Filatov drop a couple spots. Both youngsters are world class talents but without a transfer agreement in place some teams opted to draft players within North American hockey associations.
The problem has flared up once again with Jonas Frogren, whose NHL contract with the Leafs had been nixed by Gary Bettman. Although I don’t see this being a big problem, I was amazed at how seen afterwards a new transfer agreement was put in place. I don’t think the NHL has done anything as decisively or quickly as this (the discipline office is a shining example of inefficiency and incompetence)… and it’s only because Bettman’s trying to save his own ass.
It wasn’t very long ago when the KHL offered Evgeni Malkin a lucrative offer that would’ve paid him roughly US $15m tax-free should he return to Russia. Of course to everyone’s relief except the KHL, Malkin elected to stay in Pittsburgh and inked a 5-year extension that wouldn’t even make him the highest paid player in the league. I noted before at the inception of the KHL that it poses a very real threat to the NHL, in its ability to lure players with more money and make it even more difficult for the NHL to bring over European players. Just earlier today, Alexander Medvedev, the founder of the KHL, was reported to be asking the Jackets for $500k for the chance to sign Filatov, even though he is no longer under contract with CKSA Moscow. No transfer agreement was in place, which made Medvedev’s ask a little ridiculous, and also because the governing IIHF body under Swiss Rene Fasel has very little to zero power in the North American leagues.
However, with a new deal in place, just finalized earlier today, it was agreed that the IIHF and NHL will respect existing contracts between the two leagues. This means that Malkin is here to stay in the NHL for another couple of years, the Leafs will have to buy Frogren out of his existing contract with Farjestad, but most importantly, Filatov and Cherepanov would be free to join North American leagues should they wish to do so (only if they’re not under contract, of course). Their respective European teams and the IIHF will be compensated, but it does take individual GMs out of the equation. By doing so, teams that are not as wealthy as the Leafs, who can’t afford to privately buy out existing contracts of European players, will have an equal chance of bringing abroad their European prospects. David has an in-depth view of the situation here and here. Alec Browncombe at hockeybuzz.com also serves up his own analysis of the situation.
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