At a
press conference in Moscow today, KHL president Alexander Medvedev responded to questions about the Alexander Radulov situation.
Medvedev said that the verbal understand made in May -- and re-affirmed this week -- for teams to respect valid contracts will be actionable by July 14 (next Monday), if not sooner. He also said the NHL and KHL will provide each other access to databases of player contracts to make certain the impending agreement.
The Gazprom executive also reiterated that the KHL has no quarrel with the NHL, nor is there any effort to create an NHL vs. Europe mentality.
But -- and this is the key part -- Medvedev said that poaching of players that took place before the verbal agreement becomes actionable are not in violation of the understanding.
In other words, the Alexander Radulov signing falls outside the scope of the impending agreement. Likewise the Columbus Blue Jackets' signing of CSKA's Nikita Filatov (their first round pick in the recent Entry Draft) falls outside the boundaries of the agreement.
Not surprisingly, the NHL and the Predators see things quite differently. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly has issued the following statement: "It is our understanding, based on the representations made both at our meeting yesterday, but also at an earlier meeting with Mr. Medvedev in May, that the Russian League will not allow a player to play in violation of his contractual obligations in the NHL."
In addition, the Predators continue to insist that they expect Radulov at camp in September.
Said GM David Poile in a statement, "Alex is under contract with the Nashville Predators through the 2008-09 season. We are looking forward to him being here for training camp and being a part of this franchise's success for years to come."
The IIHF has said that it would consider a Radulov signing by Salavat Yulaev Ufa to be in violation of the verbal agreement that was reached.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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