I don’t understand why you chose to take a shot at the KHL at every opportunity (my personal impression). They are unquestionably the 2nd best league in quality and a lot of other aspects. But the league is very young and carries the impact of existing in oligarchs Russia. Ask yourself how situation with Slovan (which is not even a Russian team) is significantly more embarrassing than ownership situations in recent past in Arizona, on Long Island or New Jersey? And these happened in the league with 100+ years in existence and situated where capital required is not an issue?
It's your personal impression, not something I do.
Those NHL ownership situations were embarrassing, but at no point were the players at risk of not get paid, at no point did they field teams of 16 players, etc. Every league will have teams with financial issues which is not something I have disputed. My point is that here, we don't let it turn into something that ends with teams having to forfeit games, field administrative staff, play with partial squads, have guys go weeks or months without pay checks, and so on. What happened with Slovan is exponentially more embarrassing than a franchise having ownership instability like in the instances you referenced.
The leagues view themselves as a brand and protect the brand by protecting the threatened clubs, going as far as to seize control from an owner. When Frank McCourt was going through his public and hugely contentious divorce, MLB seized the club until new ownership was found. When Donald Sterling made racist comments that threatened the league's image, the NBA took the team from him. It happens, and these are for reasons not entirely financial. If there was an owner who filed for bankruptcy and said he couldn't pay anyone, any of the major NA leagues would step in in an instant to take control of the team. If they didn't, it would create instability, a competitive imbalance, and badly damage the league's image.
The KHL may have only been around for ten years but so many of the teams existed in the old Super League. I remember it. It's not a brand new league. I would expect a league trying to position itself as the preeminent league not just in Russia, but seemingly Eurasia as well, would have contingencies for this type of thing. But, again, maybe it's a cultural difference in expectations for sport club finances.
If someone told me that Lundkvist was playing his final game of the season against Linkoping and that Linkoping had 13 skaters because the owners peaced out and there was no money to pay anyone, I'd make the same comment. And I'd make even more incredulous statements if something like this happened in the NHL.
And look--this stuff does happen in independent league and lower-level, minor league and semi-pro stuff in NA. As well as with upstart leagues. I get it. I understand why it happens. I just though that the KHL, given its status as the second best league in the world, would not have these kinds of things happening. I don't know why that's so offensive.
Finally, my comment, "I thought the KHL was getting it together," was actually sincere. I hadn't heard about guys not getting paid or anything for a couple years, if memory serves, so this came as a legitimate and disappointing surprise.
