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Sweden to withdraw from NHL transfer agreement |
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After a meeting in Stockholm today between team officials in Elitserien and the Svenska Hockey Ligan, the Swedish hockey clubs have decided to withdraw from the NHL-IIHF transfer agreement as of January 1.
While the final say goes to the governing Swedish Ice Hockey Federation (Svenska Ishockey Förbundet), it is unlikely the SIF will go counter to the wishes of the Elitserien clubs and the recommendations of the league officials.
"We are not happy with the structure of the current NHL agreement," Hockeyligan official Peter Gudmondson said afterwards to Aftonbladet's Tomas Ros. "We have nothing against forming a new agreement but it has to be right for us to continue. We will speak with both the NHL and the IIHF about the future."
The Swedish clubs want a substantial increase in transfer fees, and an end to the two-year signing window for junior-aged players drafted by NHL clubs.
However, the sentiment among NHL teams seems to run directly counter to the idea of raising the fees. According to Bob McKenzie and other sources, the NHL is looking to decrease the transfer fees and may cancel the current agreement as of Jan 1 for this reason.
Ten of the twelve clubs in Elitserien (except Timrå IK and Södertälje SK) sent representatives to the meeting in Stockholm. The IIHF will be holding a meeting on Friday to discuss its next steps.
It remains to be seen what the next moves will be for the Finnish and Czech leagues. However, with Russia and Sweden both out of the transfer agreement, it would not be terribly surprising if clubs in those leagues also balked at the transfer agreement.
This much is certain: Come January 1, there is going to be a very difficult negotiation to try to get the NHL and European clubs to come to terms.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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