Many countries in Europe have completely closed their borders to Russians... Finland, Norway, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Slovakia....and probably some I have forgotten.
I realize Russia invading a sovereign nation has become an afterthought to a lot of people here in the US, with a certain segment of the population actively sabotaging efforts to help Ukraine, but that is not the case for Europe. The majority of countries in Eastern Europe actively hate Russia. To think these countries are just going to welcome Russian hockey players with open arms is rather silly. Even if it was easy for Russian hockey players to get visas to play in other countries, do people really think the Russian players are going to go to countries where they are hated and considered enemies? They're at war with their neighbor, and in an active proxy war with most of Europe...
People in the US really have no grasp on the severity of this situation in Europe.
This has had a profound impact on the KHL and Russian hockey. The KHL especially, with no influx of former pros coming in, has had the talent diluted... With no international competition involving Russians, and limited NA scouting in Russia, I'm not sure how you can even properly gauge Russian prospects.
P.S. KHL players are paid in Rubles. Anyone want to take a guess on how big a hit the value of the Ruble has taken since the war started?
