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Originally Posted by dammage79
Notable Russians that have not played in the CHL before their draft year?
Tarasenko (2010), Filatov (2008) played in the NHL before going back because he felt he was treated unfairly. Kuznetsov is one year late but by all accounts should be playing for Washington next year. Oh and Khoklachev has come over to play in the CHL and AHL after finishing his contract in the KHL.
Namestnikov from TB is unknown at this point. As with Vasilevski but goalies take longer.
Link to McPhee interview about Kuznetsov from March 3rd. Don't think anything has changed since but who knows.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...rg-and-wilson/
My point was have any Russian players that were good enough to play in the NHL full time been lured back home by the promise of more money? Not overly. As I don't count Radulov, Filatov or that other one from CLB who bolted back when going got a little tough to be NHL calibre players, not because of their skill but because of their mentality.
But the argument will continue on because a high percentage of high profile Russian prospects come to NA to play in the NHL via the CHL won't count into the Russian factor.
Yakupov, Girgorenko, Burmistrov, Kulikov all came to NA spurning the opportunity to make more money at home to play in the NHL by choosing to develop in the CHL. Don't see why that doesn't count for a strong case against the idea that players will choose money over level of competition of quality of life. |
For me it's a whole different situation if a Russian comes over to play in the CHL. It shows commitment to NA hockey and raises their draft potential.
The KHL has a cap of $36.5M but
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Salary cap
The salary cap changed from a soft cap to a hard cap, set at 1.1 billion rubles (approx. US$36.5 million), but each club can waive the cap for one player transferred directly from the NHL, if he is eligible to play for the Russian national team.[4]
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this shows the KHL is actively trying to lure Russian players back to the KHL and they can pay them as much as they want. Even if they do come over, I wouldn't gamble on a Russian KHL high draft pick contributing to the Flames.