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NHL LAYS DOWN THE SMACK ON THE KHL...(a source: Radulov Will Return)

August 19, 2008, 12:22 PM ET [ Comments]
Eklund
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Sorry that this is not a Sundin Update....lol

Until Radulov's contract with the Predators is honoured, the NHL won't consider negotiating a player transfer agreement with the Continental Hockey League (KHL), NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an e-mail on Monday.

Hats off to Bill Daly. This is what needed to be said and done in this situation.

Let me start by saying that Bill Daly is responsible for so much that is right with the NHL and in my opinion were it not for his tireless work during the lockout...well there may not still be an NHL.

....Ok, that is an overstatement, but not too much of one.

Frankly, Bill Daly is the one person at the NHL who truly has no enemies. The NHLPA trusts him, the players admire him, the owners talk to him, Bettman relies heavily upon him, and the foreign powers have always looked to him to be the softer hand.

It is hard to deny that there may be a bit of a good cop/bad cop game that Bettman and Daly play. It is a good way for them to get business done.

However, even if you acknowledge this, you can't help but like and want to work with Bill Daly. I can't tell you how many times the following has come from a player's mouth:

"I like Daly a lot. He is the kind of guy that you can sit down and have a beer with. He is extremely approachable and has always been fair."

Bill Daly is viewed as fair and balanced. The guy who will always listen to your side of the story.

Again from CP:

''The bottom line from our perspective is that the player has a contract which our rules obligate him to respect,'' Daly said. ''Our rules don't recognize a player (or his new team) being able to 'buy' the way out of an existing contract. It's not a scenario that our existing rules contemplate or allow.''


That is good stuff from the lawyer that Bill Daly is, and it is classic Daly.

So for KHL president Alexander Medvedev to hear this response after he offered compensation to the NHL for the signing of Radulov now that his back is against the wall is a tough pill to swallow. Last week Medvedev tried to come up with a structure for compensation to the NHL, and the NHL wanted nothing of it. Not until Radulov is resolved will any further transfer agreement talk be possible. To which Medvedev basically said the matter will have to be decided in the courts.

The Courts? Bad move Alex. When you are the side that violates a contract you try to stay out of court. The only reason Medvedev could want the courts to get involved would be to shift the pressure off of himself. The courts are his "parachute."

There is no doubt that the pressure on Medvedev is intense now. The KHL doesn't want to lose Radulov in this case. However, this isn't Ovechkin we are talking about. This is Radulov. Signing Radulov to this kind of contract is out of whack. That is why I continue to maintain that this looks like a publicity stunt in some ways.

Radulov is NOT what the KHL needs. Respect is what the KHL needs. The KHL needs the world to keep hearing about all this money they are paying to Radulov. It can be argued that this staying in the news in a way where the KHL is being talked about in the same breath as the NHL is MUCH better for the KHL than Radulov will be. All this talk of the NHL vs. KHL: That gives the perception that the two leagues are peers of one another. And they FAR from equals.

One has a long tradition and the other is just starting. I am convinced that this is why the NHL has tried to stay out of the public eye until now.

What do you know of the KHL? You probably think it is a threat to taking NHL players now, right?

Well that is the win here. Not Radulov.

If Medvedev loses in court he is off the hook since surely he knows the Nashville contract exists and ANY court would have to legally return Radulov to the NHL. So if I was a betting man I would say that Radulov is coming back to fulfill his contract....and Preds fans should welcome him back in my opinion. I know that he broke a contract, but that is a hell of a lot of money for a kid from Russia to turn down to play in his homeland.

Let's say that you are making 80k as a programmer in Russia for one more year and someone offers you several millions of dollars a year over several years to come home and work in your hometown...

However, the NHL is also right in protecting its teams here. And one source told me they have Medvedev right where they want him now.

"Offering compensation after the fact is an act of desperation," the source told me, "This was the opening the NHL needed to start the strong talk up. Daly's statement will reverberate throughout Europe...Radulov will be back."

And last weekend Medvedev tried to soften the pressure on himself further....

the following is from the Canadian Press...

Medvedev, last weekend, announced the KHL has extended a moratorium preventing its teams from signing NHL players under contract.

''We should forget emotions and we should start a new life with a transfer agreement in place,'' Medvedev said. ''But without such an agreement, if somebody will break the moratorium, then it will be [like] everybody could take any player and it will not be good for hockey.''

Daly dismissed the moratorium by questioning why one was necessary.

''The KHL shouldn't need a 'moratorium' to adhere to a policy of respecting legal and binding contractual commitments,'' Daly said.


DOWN GOES MEDVEDEV!

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"Can you hear that? That is the sound of Zambonis warming up..."

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