Well, from what I've been reading, the RSL makes and has far more money than the NHL, which is fairly bushleague in comparison (who's backstopping the Blues, a glorified dollar store? The Wings are propped up by Pizza?).
It is, I should think, us that should be worried about all of the world's best players wanting to hoist the RSL Cup, rather than the now-inconsequential Stanley Cup, given the safe, tax-free and coddling environment the new Russia offers.
The NHL will be forced to ice has-beens not good enough to play in Europe while we look on in envy as their fans get to watch games for as little as five dollars a ticket and see pure un-capped entertainment that only a truly free and stable capitalist society like Russia can provide.
Meanwhile, in Vancouver, we'll be forced to shell out a hundred bucks a pop to watch Corey Schneider backstopping Linden, Allen, and Butcher.
Perhaps I'm over stating things, as the RSL may not even want the slow plodders that North America produces with its rinky-dink mom-and-dad funded leagues, and we can continue to see players that we've been lulled by Don Cherry into thinking are actually world class.
All the players with true heart and grit are brought up in a government or corporate controlled environment in Russia, and that's why they will be the envy of the hockey world before the end of this decade.