Attempt to sign a transfer agreement between CCCP & NHL

[vorky]

Leonid Kravchenko, former CCCP ice hockey head (1989 - 1991), passed away at the age of 81. Just reading an interview with Alexander Steblin, former Board member of CCCP hockey federation & the head of Russian Hockey Federation, He said that Kravchenko tried to sign an agreement with the NHL regulating transfers (including a financial compensation for top Soviet players) and cooperation between the Soviet hockey & the NHL. "At the time there was no juridical document regulating transfers to the NHL. There was a time of chaos," Steblin said.

Later, as Kuperman revealed, the NHL sides paid for some Russian players.

The NHL does not care about European hockey, they are only interesting in one thing – the players. But can you imagine that if there was a transfer of leading FC Barcelona´s player to Mancherster United, the MU would pay a sum which is equal to the player´s one month salary? You even dont buy a player from Eastern Europe for such a marginal sum (in soccer – vorky). In hockey nobody has ever wanted to establish transfer rules. We have always heard only one thing – the NHL is the best and greatest league and nothing can be done. Have anybody tried to understand how it works in NBA or MLB? How much money they pay for European, Asian or Latin American players? But paying for future stars of Kuznetsov´s or Laine´s calibre a sum which is two times lower than NHL player´s minimal salary or even leaving a player (to NHL club) for „thank you“ is normal?
KHL leadership asked me a few years ago how it is possible to make a transfer of a player with valid NHL contract to Russian club. Radulov´s way of „transfer“ from Nashville to Salavat Yulaev was unacceptable of course. I was sadden then, but I studied NHL-NHL CBA for next couple of months, it is 600 pages. Then I got an idea that if a player retires from the NHL, he is free to sign in his Motherland. I called to several influential agents to consult the situation. They said me that they heard about such a scenario for the first time. I said to the KHL leadership what I found out and a half o year later, SKA signed Ilya Kovalchuk. If the people want to do something, they will do it. If they don´t want, they will not.

Are NHL clubs willing to pay for transfers?
If there are proper rules, they will. In early 90´s, when horrible things happened in Russia, the NHL clubs directly contacted Dynamo Moscow to pay solid sums, at the time, to Dynamo for their players. I remember how Ottawa paid 700 000 USD for Alexei Yashin in 1992. It was a very good sum at the time. Average NHL salary was two times lower at the time. So, NHL clubs paid money for Dynamo´s players, but CSKA´s players simply run away. How much money did NHL clubs pay to Russian clubs for Tarasenko, Panarin or Bobrovsky? I am sure, in better case, it was „thank you.“

Igor Kuperman
Former Winnipeg Jets and Phoenix Coyotes official

Is there any serious research on the topic?

Click to read more...

 

[Sanf]

No I haven´t made deep research on this matter. I understand that you are asking about the post Soviet period. I do remember reading article that Dynamo Moscow asked significant amount of money from Igor Korolev. Might have been close to 700.000. While they (Blues) got Vitali Karamnov and Vitali Prokhorov much easier. I would remember that there was mention that some teams were ready to pay significant amount of money for Soviet stars. But this from memory.

 

[vorky]

No I haven´t made deep research on this matter. I understand that you are asking about the post Soviet period. I do remember reading article that Dynamo Moscow asked significant amount of money from Igor Korolev. Might have been close to 700.000. While they got Vitali Karamnov and Viltali Prokhorov much easier. I would remember that there was mention that some teams were ready to pay significant amount of money for Soviet stars. But this from memory.

Thanks.

I am asking about the period of late CCCP and early Russia. As I quoted Kuperman, there are examples when the NHL clubs paid solid money. I would like to know how far (serious) the negotiations of transfer agreement were & what were conditions.

 

[Sanf]

Thanks.

I am asking about the period of late CCCP and early Russia. As I quoted Kuperman, there are examples when the NHL clubs paid solid money. I would like to know how far (serious) the negotiations of transfer agreement were & what were conditions.

Well I can´t give you much to that. But from vague memory from the discussion that i remember reading there was always the age restriction matter (When talking about late Soviet period). Soviets weren´t ready to let players under 28 to go (they may have been ready to let player over 25 to go at some point.. maybe?) . Was there period between this and the Wild West (or east) period where the teams that could play their card rights got money... I don´t know

 

[vorky]

As said earlier, and hoping someone will be able to reply, I am interested in conditions of potential CCCP-NHL transfer deal & how serious it was. If the NHL refused it completely as later in early 90s. I guess CCCP wanted solid money as compensation for players.... As we know, all the NHL transfer agreements with the IIHF/Euros since mid 90s have been horrible for Euros. These agreements are the worst thing which ever happened in hockey history.

 

[MaxV]

I seem to remember reading that there were some talks even earlier, specifically for Tretiak.

I believe that’s the reason he retired while still in his prime, it went nowhere.

 

[Theokritos]

For the first Soviet players that came over with the blessing of the Soviet authorities from 1988 on, there were individual deals in place which earned the Soviet hockey federation a nice sum of money. (Just like there were earlier deals that allowed Soviet veterans to play in Finland, Austria, Germany etc from the late 1960s on, but of course the NHL paid better.)

 

[vorky]

For the first Soviet players that came over with the blessing of the Soviet authorities from 1988 on, there were individual deals in place which earned the Soviet hockey federation a nice sum of money. (Just like there were earlier deals that allowed Soviet veterans to play in Finland, Austria, Germany etc from the late 1960s on, but of course the NHL paid better.)

Thank you. That is what I asked.

And it is sad that current transfer rules are so bad even if there were more fair conditions 50+ ago.

 

[Sanf]

For the first Soviet players that came over with the blessing of the Soviet authorities from 1988 on, there were individual deals in place which earned the Soviet hockey federation a nice sum of money. (Just like there were earlier deals that allowed Soviet veterans to play in Finland, Austria, Germany etc from the late 1960s on, but of course the NHL paid better.)

Didn´t Soviet hockey federation got even some procent of the salary paid to that first group of players? Again from memory.

edit.

The Associated Press
July 3, 1989

This is an official deal,", Calgary president Cliff Fletcher said, referring to the fact that both teams signed agreements with Sovintersport, an organization that markets Soviet athletic talent in the West. For its part, Sovintersport will take an unspecified cut of the money paid to Larianov and Makarov. Victor Galaev, general manager of the organization, was coy about the size of the cut but said it would be close to 50. "

 

[ForsbergForever]

I seem to remember reading that there were some talks even earlier, specifically for Tretiak.

I believe that’s the reason he retired while still in his prime, it went nowhere.

Montreal drafted Tretiak in 1983 and GM Serge Savard tried negotiating for him to join the team towards the end of the 1983-84 season, after the Olympics were over but the Soviet authorities wouldn't let him leave. Tretiak had his heart set on playing in the NHL and retired in protest rather than continue playing for those who crushed his dream.

Fun fact, the Habs also drafted Slava Fetisov in 1978 but obviously that too was a no go at the time.