The KHL's growth against the NHL

[Mr. TM]

The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in Russia has grown rapidly over the last decade and looks to be a serious competitor to the National Hockey League (NHL). With the growth of the KHL, the NHL will experience a weakening in their product as many European players as well as North American players will play there.

The biggest benefit to playing in Russia is first and foremost for Russian players. They will now be given the ability to play within their own nation. The time period seems to be over when players try to escape Russia, something we saw near the collapse of the Soviet Union. Players now feel at home in Russia post communism and are willing to play in their home nation. A homesickness of such has been seen before by players wanting to play back in their home nations over playing in North America, because they want to feel at home. Some say that is the reason Marcus Naslund recently retired from the NHL, wanting to play back in Sweden, which he did after a year. But the trend reaches further than European and Russian players.

The new NHL, one with cap spaces, has left many talented players over the past few years without a team. They might be a little too old to play in an obstruction-less NHL, they might be asking too much to play and teams just cannot afford their services. The best move for them would be to either retire or maybe go and join the AHL, or get on a staff somewhere. But for those who still have the desire to play, they will try and move on to Russia to get a second chance.

Second chances have a dual meaning here. Certain players have drawn ire from the NHL and while looking to escape the attention, they move over to the KHL for a season. That is what Ray Emery did last year, playing in Russia for a year before retuning to the NHL. If the cement business and construction was not such a money-making venture in Alberta, Canada, than I assume that Theoren Fleury would be playing in the KHL. He did play in Ireland for a while, and I am sure that one of the KHL teams would be willing to pick him up if he wanted to leave the comfort of home.

The NHL’s drug testing is not the greatest, but it has caught players before. As the KHL is not fully part of the IIHF, it has the ability to have players who have been forced out of the NHL because of wellness issues, something that did happen to Theoren Fleury.

The NHL lock out of 2004 changed the way the NHL is played with the previously mentioned Cap and Obstruction rules. What it also did was exposed players and perhaps fans to European markets. Dany Heatley played in Europe, a player I highly doubt would have ever played in the continent despite it being his birthplace (son of an armed forces personnel). With that stint, there is now an openness for players wanting to go overseas for a paycheck.

The contracts are grand. They might not reach the level of NHL contracts in general, but they do come with advantages. Martin Gerber faced a similar situation when he was offered $700,000 to play in Russia. The article here http://www.fromtherink.com/2009/7/22/958088/how-khl-clubs-woo-nhl-free-agents describes this situation where he was offered more money in the NHL, but with all the added benefits of the KHL, he chose the KHL.

Players already in the KHL are some of the NHL’s former best. Names like Jagr, Federov, Yashin and so forth. Their leading scorer is Alexei Yashin who has 52 points in 46 games. That is NHL calibre scoring, but because he was unable to get a contract, he went back to Russia to play. At 39 Jozef Stumpel might be too old for the NHL by many team’s standpoints, but as one of the leading scorers in the KHL, he is proving his worth, after being bought out by the Florida Panthers. Marcel Hossa at one time was discussed as a future top six forward in the NHL, but after a rough time in New York and Montreal, he retreated back to Europe to play. Jiri Hudler is a Stanley Cup winner, and was offered a pretty good salary by the Detroit Red Wings but left to play in Russia because he wanted to be home. Jaromir Jagr was getting old, but still knew how to play. Most importantly, he drew fans, but he is no longer drawing them to the NHL, he is drawing them to Avangard games. One time a cherished player is gone, because of the draw of the KHL. The same can be said about Stanley Cup winners Sergei Zubov, Sergei Federov, and Viktor Kozlov. It’s the reason that former NHL goalies Robert Esche, Martin Gerber, Tyler Moss no longer lace up here.

At this rate, the NHL will not be able to stop players from entering KHL draft one day. The young NHLers such as Ovechkin, Semin, Malkin could have never saw the light of day in the NHL. At current rates, we might not see the next batch of Russian superstars. I think that the NHL will lose its monopoly on hockey greats one day and their will be a split between the two leagues. What are your thoughts?

 

[Showtime]

The NHL I don't see in any real danger yet. While it's true that hockey is about as loved in the south as a vicious hurricane is, there is a dim light of hope in the future. The Canadian teams are know making huge bucks with the Canadian and American dollar being so close to parity (Remember, even though we take in Canadian dollars for revenue, everything we pay is still spent in American, so when $1 was 60cents, ouch). Commissioner Bateman is finally realizing that hockey just isn't going to work is some places, and is looking to relocate some teams up North, as well as to some more northern American locations. And the Salary Cap has created a small sense of balance that, on the one hand is still is unable to pull many teams out of the gutter with their less then stellar revenue, but it has allowed all teams a chance to be competitive (the only thing that really draws) and controls the money spent, so it can be better shared.

And lastly, the NHL I think is finally over the post Gretzky/Lemeiux era. To really illustrate what these two guys were to the sport, they lead the league in points in all but one season from 1980/81-1996/97. After that Jaromir Jagr won 4 straight titles before fading away. The NHL went four years after without a prominent star and went into a lockout in 04/05. The next season, a new bread of stars emerged. Of course some were Canadian, but a good many were extremely gifted Russians and Swedes. The NHL has Alexander Ovechkin, Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Evgeni Malkin, and many other big young Europeans, and they are all signed to long term deals, ranging from 5-13 years. These men are the heros of their country and will continue to inspire young fans to follow their footsteps. That'll keep many of the young Russians and Swedes coming to the NHL, that and the NHL is still the premiere league. There's a reason why the Japanese started coming to the MLB, it was the bigger challenge. The NHL has the worlds elite players, and while the KWL does have talent, we're comparing WWE to TNA here.

Now yes, there is always reason to be concerned when a growing competition emerges. Yes it will attract more Russians and other foreign players to the market, but not those who want to play the best. And yes many players have jumped the pond to play there, but lets look at the notables.

Jaromír Jágr, Alexander Radulov, Ray Emery, Sergei Brylin, Ladislav Nagy, Jozef Stumpel, Alexei Yashin, Marcel Hossa, Pavel Brendl, Ben Clymer, Alexei Zhitnik, Bryan Berard, and Chris Simon.

Jagr was great once, but is well past his prime now, the others range from underachieving, over the hill and old, or simply just a role player. Yashin was the biggest waste of space the Islanders ever purchased, Nagy and Stumpel never lived up to expectations, Brendl was a 4th overall pick back in 99!, had under 30 points in his NHL career, and Hossa, well I thought he had a future too, but WWE does the same thing and in many cases there is a reason for it, the just weren't good enough.

What most of these players are finding is that they can make more money playing in Russia and actually get paid less to do it. How? Russia has a flat personal income tax line of 13%, one of the lowest in the world. In the states, 35%. At 5 million a year, your saving a million dollars playing in Russia. So if everyone saves that much why doesn't everyone play in the KHL. Well, first 5 million is a little on the high side. Most make a million or 2. Then the league limits teams to 5 foreign players, (hey for once thats us, the NA) to keep russians in the KHL. The league does look lucrative from a players perspective, but financially many teams have continuous cut back on costs, train camps and pre-game activity are slated to be dropped if necessary, and most arenas hold well under 10,000 fans.

While KHL has made strides to plant itself in Russia, and combat the NHL, it still is very Bush League compared to the NHL. It's stars are mainly the scraps from the NHL and young Russian Players. This league will be terrific for improving Russian Hockey, which has fallen a little on the way side since the 70's till the end of the 90's. Russians have been overlooked by Swedes and Fins in the last decade. This league now gives them the most competitive league next to the NHL and will help create more Ovechkins, but they will feel the urge for greater competition and will be drawn to play in the NHL. And hell, this is all assuming it'll be around in 5 years, but as for it taking over the NHL's monopoly, I don't think that is very likely.