Club without interest: more than 100 Russian hockey players remain without contracts
A few weeks before the start of the pre-season training camps for KHL clubs, more than 100 Russian hockey players who played at least one league game last season or lost their agreements with NHL clubs remain without contracts. We are talking only about unrestricted free agents. About three dozen more players are in the status of restricted free agents and continue negotiations with clubs. Why the market found itself in such an unusual situation is in the Izvestia article.
Will Dadonov return to Traktor
Compared to the previous offseason, there seem to be fewer famous hockey players in limbo this year, although there are almost never any stars on such lists. Vladimir Tarasenko and Evgeny Dadonov cannot sign new contracts, but they usually take their time. Tarasenko has once again changed his agent, which means that he will find a job. Dadonov is already 37 years old — he needs strong arguments in order to move to Chelyabinsk, and they are waiting for him there. But the veteran will look for options in the NHL until the last moment.
Some guys from overseas have already agreed to return to Russia, but this has not yet been announced. According to rumors, Daniil Miromanov and Nikolai Knizhov will end up in SKA. It remains to wait for the official news. And what hockey players like Ivan Prosvetov, Matvey Petrov or Artyom Guryev will do is unclear. The rights to Prosvetov belong to CSKA, they do not need a goalkeeper, but they are not going to give him to potential competitors either. Matvey Petrov and Artyom Guryev are unrestricted free agents, but bilateral contracts with KHL clubs look like the most likely option for them.
Kuznetsov and other veterans
Evgeny Kuznetsov remains the main lot on the Russian market. There is little doubt that the striker will spend the next season in the KHL. He has offers, and from several clubs at once, but negotiations are still dragging on. It is possible that the final certainty will come by the beginning of August.
Kuznetsov himself did not hide that he was upset — he wanted to stay at Salavat, where he quickly found a common language with head coach Viktor Kozlov and became one of his own in the team. But Ufa wanted to see him as a center forward of the first two threes, whom they could rely on at any moment. For half a season at Salavat, there were times when Kuznetsov unexpectedly could not go to the match. The club smoothed out conflicts: if Evgeny had played elsewhere, it is likely that his contract would have already been terminated before the playoffs. But Salavat understood that Kuznetsov could help at some point, and there was no one to replace him after the deadline.
Neftekhimik was interested in Kuznetsov even before his transfer to Ufa. Currently, the Nizhnekamsk team is staffed, with the exception of the position of the center forward in the top 6, but so far the club's capabilities and the player's requests do not match. Evgeny also has an offer from Dinamo Minsk: according to Izvestia, the player can be given a salary of 35 million rubles a year, as well as very good bonuses. At the same time, the forward's agent, Shumi Babayev, said that he was negotiating with four or five clubs, and the option with Minsk was a priority.
Kuznetsov himself recently managed to play in an amateur tournament overseas with Dynamo Minsk striker Sam Enes, the top scorer of the KHL last season. It's no secret that the American forward has an influence on the recruitment process for Minsk, while the team still does not have a head coach — managers can take responsibility for the transfer themselves. Kuznetsov, on the other hand, should fit well into the top three with Enes and Alex Limoges: all three are creative strikers with high game intelligence.
Formally, Alexander Barabanov remains on the market. But it is already clear that the forward will sign a contract with Avtomobilist and become the most expensive KHL player with a salary of 120 million rubles, which is the amount together with the advertising contract, which is now officially authorized by the league.
There are hockey players with unclear status. Neither Sergey Shumakov, Anton Burdasov, nor Alexander Burmistrov have announced that they have retired. But there is no interest in them in the league, although veterans are sometimes invited at the last minute. It is surprising that Ilya Kablukov started self-training. He was an assistant general manager of the Dragons for a couple of weeks, but things are changing fast for the Chinese, and now Ilya is waiting for options again.
This offseason, there are especially many age-related players among free agents who will have a hard time finding new teams. According to available information, Amur has been trying to persuade Evgeny Grachev to end his career and join the club system for a long time, and eventually the parties came to an agreement. Pavel Dedunov, Andrey Loktionov, Kirill Rasskazov and Roman Rukavishnikov may also have difficulties finding a new club.
Instead of famous Russians, there are incomprehensible legionnaires.
There are fewer goalkeepers on the market. But there's an amazing situation there. For example, Timur Bilyalov wants to stay in Kazan, but cannot agree on a new contract. At the same time, the difference in the amount is small, and Timur is at great risk if Ak Bars suddenly agrees with Toronto on the lease of Artur Akhtyamov. Bilyalov has no other options, and the club from Tatarstan does not need three strong goalkeepers.
Andrei Kareev can't find a job, Andrei Tikhomirov has no offers, and Dmitry Shikin graduated last season, but the Dragons found themselves in a difficult situation and urgently signed a contract. Technically, Igor Bobkov is still on the market, but he missed a year, so he's not being considered anywhere.
There are several defenders who suddenly find themselves out of work. Egor Zaitsev, Artyom Zemchenok, Yaroslav Dyblenko are without contracts. The latter recently stated in an interview that he does not want to stay in Amur, as he plans to join the team that fights for the Gagarin Cup. But there is no interest in him, and it is unclear what he was talking about.
KHL players are looking for defenders and centers, but they don't pay attention to unrestricted free agents. But they invite incomprehensible people from European leagues and the AHL. However, the market is still full of foreigners who spent last season in our league and are now unemployed.
"If I were the leaders of most clubs, I would have no illusions that the top scorers of the AHL playoffs would come to us," said Torpedo general manager Evgeny Zabuga. — All those who could become top players here receive $500,000 a year. Accordingly, in order to bring them here, this amount must be doubled. And not every manager will risk giving such sums.
At the same time, he stated that 9 out of 10 hockey players, who were led by the club's scouting department, had signed new contracts in North America.
Pay attention to the students
A striking example is the American striker Vinny Lettieri, who was of great interest in the KHL. But the Calder Cup winner in the Toronto farm club remained in the Maple Leafs system, and his salary will not change depending on whether he plays in the NHL or the AHL. Lettieri is guaranteed to receive $850 thousand a year — about 65 million rubles at the current exchange rate. Yes, there is a difference in taxes, but it is not that significant.
This situation seriously complicates the recruitment of trains and is already significantly affecting the domestic market. In many ways, this explains the large contracts that Ilya Karpukhin received at Avtomobilist and Nathan Todd at Metallurg. Ak Bars decided not to participate in the salary race, hoping to find a boost overseas. However, this plan almost failed: it took a long time to find a worthy replacement. As a result, the Kazan club agreed to sign Kevin Labanque, who made his KHL debut last season with Shanghai.
North Americans make up a significant part of the Shanghai, Dinamo Minsk and Barys teams, which are not limited to a five-player limit like Russian clubs. And the current situation is hitting them the hardest. Minsk has not even decided on a head coach yet, but at the same time they are seriously considering the candidacy of striker Gardner, who left CSKA, who scored one goal during the entire season. At Barys, they decided to keep most of the foreigners who played for the team last season, while they did not initially plan to leave Morelli and McCoshen, but they terminated Riley Walsh.
At the same time, three European players who had never played in the league before have already arrived in the KHL — Traktor signed Norwegian goalkeeper Henrik Haukeland, SKA signed Swedish striker Linus Weissback, and Shanghai reached an agreement with Czech forward Martin Frk. All the players are quite experienced and at the same time not too dependent on the opinion at home. It is difficult to intimidate Haukeland into not being called up to the national team — he achieved his maximum with her, winning bronze at the last World Championships. Weissback didn't really play for her at all. And the more Europeans who come to the KHL, the easier it will be to invite others.
The rejection of most North Americans is a great reason to trust their own youth more. In the system of the same Ak Bars, there are players who have already stayed too long in the VHL and earned a full-fledged place at the base. For them, the current situation is only for the good. And if they and promising young people in other teams start playing, there won't be much need to closely scan the North American market next summer.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
