Malkin and Russian players

[Pitts]

Per the tweeter:

Larry Brooks ‏@NYP_Brooksie
...last Friday, Malkin, Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, Datsyuk were preparing press release to announce they intended to remain in KHL regardless...

Larry Brooks ‏@NYP_Brooksie
Told that quartet hd been promised immense amount of money (guarantee fromn Putin) to stay in KHL and not return to NHL...

Larry Brooks ‏@NYP_Brooksie
Told that NHLPA was able to talk players out of issuing statement...Ovechkin has returned, Datsyuk has pledged to honor last 2 yrs with Det

Discuss?

[Gaucho]

Larry Brooks @Toolshed_City

[pittsoccer33]

Nothing would surprise me. I can easily imagine a scenario where Russian mobsters are making a fortune betting with these guys and encouraging them not to leave. In many ways things are worse in Russia now than they were in the later days of the Soviet Union.

[Gaucho]

Sadly, that appears to be true.

[no name]

?? ouch... if it is true, any Pgh sighting of Malkin yet?

[Idoit40fans]

Per Larry Brooks, I don't care.

Malkin and Ovechkin headed back right away. Datsyuk apparently was ready to come back right away as well. Kovalchuk is always a problem. Even OV, he is into the posturing, but he's definitely an NHL guy.

[llipgh2]

Per Larry Brooks - I am a moron, I have no idea what I'm talking about more than 3/4 of the time.

[Pitts]

Per Larry Brooks - I am a moron, I have no idea what I'm talking about more then 3/4 of the time.

[beLIEve]

This is just laughable. Creating something out of nothing for page views, retweets, etc since there is now a lame duck period between the time they agreed to a deal and the time they'll sign a deal. "Slow news day? Let's stir up some **** about Russians to keep everyone interested" mentality.

Lets look at the facts:

- The NHL and NHLPA do not yet have a signed CBA.
- NHL teams were told by the NHL that they are not allowed to tell players that they need to return until the CBA is signed.
- Kovalchuk is still under contract with SKA and they have a game today, so he is obligated to play in it.
- Kovalchuk has no obligation to return to New Jersey until the CBA is signed.

So, again, why is him playing in a game today a story?

[no name]

I searched the internet and besides Brooks tweet i don't see anything to support it.

[Idoit40fans]

This is just laughable. Creating something out of nothing for page views, retweets, etc

I read this a little differently

This is just Larry Brooks

[Pitts]

This is just Laughable Brooks

FIXT

[mikey287]

EDIT: Nevermind. This seems like a reach...

[DocEmrick]

Malkin to LA

[littlemoonboot]

LOL @ Visnovsky dumping the Islanders, though

[newarenanow]

Larry Brooks also said Mario Lemieux was signing with the Rangers.

[Penspal]

Ovechkin interview from last night (link below) had him saying (around 6:40 mark) that he would return to KHL IF NHL/Caps did not pay him the money that he singed for (this is what the Make Whole aspect was all about).

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/alex-ovechkin-end-nhl-lockout-engagement-maria-kirilenko-173934684--nhl.html

[jwest21]

WWIII is about to kick off, b**ches

[llipgh2]

This is a Rossi tweet, take it with a grain of salt:

Malkin, Gonchar still waiting for set camp date to return to North America @Penguins @Sens

[Pitts]

This is a Rossi tweet, take it with a grain of salt:

Malkin, Gonchar still waiting for set camp date to return to North America @Penguins @Sens

Gonchar is really waiting on his trade to the Pens so he can take the same flight as Malkin.

[pens_CT]

Per the agreement the KHL signed with the NHL, they can't keep players that have valid NHL contracts. Could the KHL ingnore the agreement? Sure but IIHF could issue sanctions against the KHL which could prevent the player from playing in the 2014 Olympics for example. Is that enough to deter this from happening, I guess we will see. I don't see the top names Malkin, etc staying there.

[BigMcK]

Is this when we break out the old Russian Penguins jersey?





(still not sure how to paste a image)

[mikey287]

(still not sure how to paste a image)

1) Acquire Image Url (ex. http://BigMcK.com/image.jpg)
2) Paste into message
3) surround with {img} ... {/img} tags

Looks like {img}hxxp://BigMcK.com/image.jpg{/img}

Except that these {} brackets should be these brackets []

[Gaucho]

Just click the Img button above the text field, paste image, done.

[The Snapshot]

Is this when we break out the old Russian Penguins jersey?







(still not sure how to paste a image)