Viktor Kozlov signs in Russia

http://www.rds.ca/hockey/chroniques/275398.html

First, Fedorov, now Kozlov. The Russians are Going, the Russians are Going!

Washington has some holes to fill now I guess.

I guess they are no-longer Russia's team.

wprager wrote:First, Fedorov, now Kozlov. The Russians are Going, the Russians are Going!

seems to be the going trend, players leaving for the KHL, not a lot of people returning yet though.

SensFan71 wrote:

wprager wrote:First, Fedorov, now Kozlov. The Russians are Going, the Russians are Going!

seems to be the going trend, players leaving for the KHL, not a lot of people returning yet though.

Potentially the biggest of them all coming back today in Jagr - if it's true.

504Heater wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:

wprager wrote:First, Fedorov, now Kozlov. The Russians are Going, the Russians are Going!

seems to be the going trend, players leaving for the KHL, not a lot of people returning yet though.

Potentially the biggest of them all coming back today in Jagr - if it's true.

Is he signing with Edmonton to go with the big news of their pending coach? I heard Edmonton linked a lot with Jagr, probably no deal on Radulov eh? That one stings for the Preds.

SensFan71 wrote:
Is he signing with Edmonton to go with the big news of their pending coach? I heard Edmonton linked a lot with Jagr, probably no deal on Radulov eh? That one stings for the Preds.

I hear that they might indeed announce something at 2 about Jagr. As for Radulov...he might come back, but Nashville will have to pony up a lot of coin for him. And really, do they want him poisoning their room?

If his attitude is okay after all this, Nashville could use him on their roster, but I'd certainly think about going a different direction if I was them.

504Heater wrote:

SensFan71 wrote:
Is he signing with Edmonton to go with the big news of their pending coach? I heard Edmonton linked a lot with Jagr, probably no deal on Radulov eh? That one stings for the Preds.

I hear that they might indeed announce something at 2 about Jagr. As for Radulov...he might come back, but Nashville will have to pony up a lot of coin for him. And really, do they want him poisoning their room?

If his attitude is okay after all this, Nashville could use him on their roster, but I'd certainly think about going a different direction if I was them.

guess the only other player to sit and wait about is Razor Ray, there are a few teams out there that need a starting goalie bad, I am looking at colorado for one. will keep my ears perked on Jagr for the next hour or so.

i think the NHL has to sit down with the KHL and come to some sort of agreement. its just not fair that these russian teams have the right(or take it) to talk to pending UFAs before july 1st. it makes it imposible for another team to counter offer. i was hoping for kozlov to stay in the NHL(even maybe ottawa)

The tide's got to come back at some point. They can't go on absorbing all those salaries -- I don't care *how* much oil there is in the far East of Russia.

I think this is good for Washington, they need the cap space, so losing those two (Federov and Kozlov) helps alleviate some of that. Now if only they can do something with Theodore. Sure, they lose two goal scorers, but they can sign some FA's or bring up some young guys (who they have success with).

Considering that the price of oil has gone from $40 USD a barrel to $75 USD a barrel in just a few weeks, and even with it settling at $62 USD today (per Bloomberg); and that Gazprom continues to be sole supplier of natural gas to the entire European Union, I'd say the Russian Government and their partners in the KHL (who are financed by Gazprom) are pretty flush right now.

As for the cost of air transport in the former USSR, the state owns all the airlines behind the facade of privatization, so carrying players to and from all points in the vast Russian lands is no big deal cost wise.

Rich as the Russian apparat is, they can afford to keep this league going even if Ivan Ivanovitch and a few babushkas are the only people in the stands.

As a good friend of mine in The Russian Foreign Ministry once told me, "Any idiot with money can make things happen, but it takes a genius to be creative when money is in short supply."

And not only are the Russians creative when money is in short supply, they're even more creative when they're loaded.

It will be very interesting to see how many Russian players approaching the end of their careers in the NHL head home, and even more interesting if KHL head Aleksandr Medvedev makes good on his suggestion that he might buy one or two NHL franchises and move them back to Canada.

Dash wrote:I think this is good for Washington, they need the cap space, so losing those two (Federov and Kozlov) helps alleviate some of that. Now if only they can do something with Theodore. Sure, they lose two goal scorers, but they can sign some FA's or bring up some young guys (who they have success with).

i'm not sure how this benefits washington? both were gonna be UFAs, meanning washington could of let them go the real problem was that other teams could of signed them. i liked kozlov personaly and wouldn't have objected ottawa giving a small cheap contract (2 mill) to federov.