Who likes what they see from Malkin so far?

[Draftnik]

Furthermore, lets be serious about why this is even happening. It isnt for the scores of other players its about Malkin. The only reason why the Russians chose not to agree with the IHHF (which pays condsiderably well for players of FAR less talent then Ovechkin/Malkin) is for the WJC and the Olympics. After that it doesnt make much sense for them not to agree, but it is possible that they wont just so they could get a couple extra million for Malkin. I doubt it would come to that but it is a very real possibility.

This has nothing to do with Malkin specifically. Russia is pissed they got a few hundred K for Kovalchuk, Zherdev, and a ton of younger players over the last decade. Russia feels they are entitled to soccer style transfer fees to release the players from their contracts as well as compensate the clubs for developmental fees. As I mentioned in my post above Malkin for example has been training with Magnitogorsk for many years. They don't have a US style system where he goes to HS, College, JR teams, etc. Magnitogorsk took him in as a young teenager and developed him. The transfer agreement pays relative peanuts for elite and low level players.

[NIN]

If Russia chooses not to participate in the IHHL agreement all summer long , just like last summer. Then the Pens can't market Malkin and it will hurt season ticket sales bigtime. If they still don't have one in place and training camp begins then the league will step aside if they know what is best for them. The NHL can't turn their nose at players like Malkin, they league is very very weak financially and they desperately need to do everything possible to expand the fan base. If Malkin wanted to, he would be in the NHL right now and his Russian club would have collected a nice chunk of change and the NHL would not have received one red cent of it. Same goes for next season. The Russians would agree to the IHHL after they get their Malkin money and the NHLs longterm relation would be restored. They are not going to make the same mistake they did with Ovechkin but I doubt they will force Malkin to stick around against his will. It's really up to him.

If Malkin left without Magnitigorsk's blessing this would go to court. Ovechkin's Russian club (Dynamo?) took the Caps to court and lost because they tried to selectively interpret which clauses in is Russian contract they would honor. He signed a contract with an escape clause with another Russian club (Avangard Omsk?sp?), Dynamo got that contract, but said they didn't have to honor the escape clause. They lost the case. The Caps tool Alex Semin to court because he skipped out on his Caps contract to play in Russia under some type of military service pretense. The Caps won the case, but are having trouble enforcing the decision. I don't think the NHL would take Malkin if he defected on a valid contract. He probably would be ruled ineligible by the courts and it defeats the whole point of working amicably with the IIHF on player transfers.

I believe Malkin is from Magnitigorsk, he's been in their hockey academy since he was a young teenager, they gave his family a summer home, he talked about playing for them in the Spengler Cup next season... It seems unlikely this local hero would would get into a dispute with the club and he has no legal recourse to leave them without their blessing until after the 07/08 season.

Like I said if Malkin doesnt want to come over he wont. If Russia wants to persuade him to stay it might work but if Malkin insists on playing in the NHL I beleive his homeland will help him. The NHL might not stand in the way if they consider everything.

[netwolf]

CP won't be the GM trying to get him here for the 06/07 season. I'd expect Magnitogorsk to take a hard line with the Pens since Russia didn't sign the transfer agreement. Some Russian officials went on record as saying the reason they didn't sign the NHL-IIHF transfer agreement was because they wanted $2M-$3M transfer fees for guys like Ovechkin and Malkin, so maybe the Pens could buy his contract out. On the other hand the NHL may not want their teams undermining the sweetheart deal they have on international transfers with other nations, so who knows.

If CP isn't around I won't be surprised. I'll wait until I see who replaces him before deciding if I'm happy about it or not.

Let's say the Russian set the price at $4million for Malkin's release. The NHL hints they they don't want to see it paid, but never explicitly say that, nor can they do anything to stop teams from doing that. Do you pay it? Are Malkin's rights worth it?

The only downside I see to it is once the Russians collect such a fee once, you can be sure they will looking for it again and again.

How do you get the Russians to go along with the NHL-IIHF transfer agreement? Could the NHL and IIHF prevent non-agreeing countries from using NHL players in international competition (i.e., no Russian NHLers in the Olympics)? Beyond that, I don't see how you can get the Russians on board...

[Pens4Life]

Gaborik for Gonchar and Morozov