The archives of the articles about Kukan situation aren't online, so I can't get exact quotes. What it seems like is Luleå's only recourse was to seek financial compensation from the Jackets since what were they suppose to do - drag Kukan onto a plane from Cleveland and force him to play for them?
Their GM type person maintained it was complete violation of Kukan's contract for him to play in the AHL and was very pissed off.
The larger issue is that teams are able to recruit players from other countries (like Luleå getting Kukan from Switzerland, or Elvis playing in Switzerland from Latvia) and if they are hardliners about contracts, they aren't going to be able to recruit as well. These kids want to play in the NHL and are playing in another country to get there.
But I think sending Dansk back to Sweden is a sign that Jarmo understands he needs to throw the European teams a bone. That they aren't constantly losing their players for nothing and NHL teams will try to help them out by sending players to Europe rather than the ECHL.
Enough players are going back after 3-4 years developing in the AHL that SHL teams are also seeing the long term benefit of maintaining positive relationships with players so when their NHL career doesn't pan out, they come back to play for them rather than a rival team.
In terms of the CBJ goalie situation, the question is in terms of the pipeline. I don't think Dansk will end up pulling a Sedlak and salvaging his career. After Korpi's performances recently, maybe that decreases his chances of being taken in the expansion draft. Forsberg's been stellar in the AHL so maybe that ups his chances. One of them may be the backup next season, but that leaves the AHL spot. Elvis may not want to play in the AHL, so that means a free-agent could be signed for that spot. This draft, they need to select a goalie to get another one in the pipeline. But Dansk does have the opportunity to show he deserves the chance to be the Cleveland starter next year.