KHL "Summer League" 2019 - Offseason power rankings

[powerplaymaker]

So who is on top of the power rankings this summer?

+ Loko doing pretty well signing Da Costa and Lander!

+ Magni signing pretty much everyone...

+ Kvartalnov to Kazan puts them also among the top teams.

- Ska seems to be losing players mostly, whats going on there?

-Whats up with Minsk? 3 players signed according to Eliteprospects. Also Slovan has like no players?

Click to read more...

 

[SoundAndFury]

Well, Magnitka is a clear winner, they have done an amazing job. They threw around a bunch of money I assume but boy is this team better than last year. Of players worth mentioning they only lost Ellison and brought in so many great ones. It's hard to say any other team even comes close.

Other teams have been pretty quiet so far, SYu and Ava is mostly working on keeping the guys they had, Ak Bars haven't signed anything worth mentioning yet (they have, however, ditched pretty much all high-paid players), CSKA again is in not fix what's not broken mode, Loko also only made lateral moves aaand don't even have a coach yet..

SKA needs to get new top players which is never easy. There is little Russian talent left to poach from the small teams so I think they are going to go pretty hard on the NA players like Lyubushkin, Scherbak, Goldobin, etc. But yeah, it's definitely interesting what SKA is going to do, they are in a rather tough spot as far as available players go. One thing for sure, they need to get Kagarlitsky if they want to even stay close to the level they are used to being at.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Oh and regarding the small teams, they have been operating same way year to year, signing the bulk of their players late in June. At this point, most of those probably don't even know what their budget is exactly.

 

[alko]

Well, Magnitka is a clear winner, they have done an amazing job. They threw around a bunch of money I assume but boy is this team better than last year. Of players worth mentioning they only lost Ellison and brought in so many great ones. It's hard to say any other team even comes close.

Other teams have been pretty quiet so far, SYu and Ava is mostly working on keeping the guys they had, Ak Bars haven't signed anything worth mentioning yet (they have, however, ditched pretty much all high-paid players), CSKA again is in not fix what's not broken mode, Loko also only made lateral moves aaand don't even have a coach yet..

SKA needs to get new top players which is never easy. There is little Russian talent left to poach from the small teams so I think they are going to go pretty hard on the NA players like Lyubushkin, Scherbak, Goldobin, etc. But yeah, it's definitely interesting what SKA is going to do, they are in a rather tough spot as far as available players go. One thing for sure, they need to get Kagarlitsky if they want to even stay close to the level they are used to being at.

There are still top foreign players. From Sweden, Finland, USA, Czech ... And SKA had money. No problem i think. We will see after WCH.

 

[powerplaymaker]

Who are the top teams now?

SKA
CSKA
Magnitka
Aq Bars

Any other?

This might belong here

I'm tempted to say Jokerit if they land Niemi. Ofc there are some questions about 2/3 top centers. Can Regin come back to the level he was on before injuries? Can Kontiola improve his game?

Ok, maybe Jokerit isn't the top team, but still low-tier cup contender..

In the best case Jokerit might have "three 1st lines":
Joensuu - Norman - O'Neill
Savinainen - Kontiola - Moses
Jensen - Regin - X

And the fourth line is also top-notch in the KHL:

Pihlström - Niemi - Anttila

Ikonen and Oksanen on rotation.

Hopefully Jokerit can extend Lepistös contract as leader of the D. There has been improvement to that department IF Lepistö is in:

"Lepistö" - Lehtonen
Kivistö - Grant
Eronen - Lauridsen
Lööv - Räsänen

Goalie department is looks also very good if rumors about Antti Niemi's contract are true. Ofc there is bit of a risk with him, but then again, Kalnins is very solid 2nd goalie.

"Niemi"
Kalnins

There are some rumored names the "X" on the offence: Saku Mäenalanen, Henrik Haapala. Fans have also speculated with names like Teemu Pulkkinen or Kalle Kossila.

 

[SoundAndFury]

There are still top foreign players. From Sweden, Finland, USA, Czech ... And SKA had money. No problem i think. We will see after WCH.

The way it is now, they only have 1 import slot. And it was rumored they would like to resign Hersley.

 

[hansomreiste]

Sorry for bringing this up in every other post but do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Saviour, hard salary cap? If the statements of the league bear any weight, 2019/20 will be the final season before the hard cap kicks in. I wanna believe SKA are reshaping to at least bring their expenditure to a more controllable level for the upcoming carnage. Under normal circumstances, teams like SKA and CSKA should get decimated. If not this season, they'll need to go from around 2b RUB to 900M throughout a single summer market. The fact that most top teams have remained relatively quiet is encouraging in that sense.

 

[vorky]

Sorry for bringing this up in every other post but do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Saviour, hard salary cap? If the statements of the league bear any weight, 2019/20 will be the final season before the hard cap kicks in. I wanna believe SKA are reshaping to at least bring their expenditure to a more controllable level for the upcoming carnage. Under normal circumstances, teams like SKA and CSKA should get decimated. If not this season, they'll need to go from around 2b RUB to 900M throughout a single summer market. The fact that most top teams have remained relatively quiet is encouraging in that sense.

You are right with a hard salary cap. We will see, especially CSKA tries to increase the cap. Plus there is the NHL lockout.

The more important problem of the league is the absence of the salary floor. There are still discussions on this topic.

 

[filip85]

You are right with a hard salary cap. We will see, especially CSKA tries to increase the cap. Plus there is the NHL lockout.

The more important problem of the league is the absence of the salary floor. There are still discussions on this topic.

You have some info on this or pure speculation ?

 

[vorky]

You have some info on this or pure speculation ?

As everyone has. We will see. Plus CSKA´s Esmatovich talked about it when replied a Q about KHL´s hard salary cap.

 

[hansomreiste]

You are right with a hard salary cap. We will see, especially CSKA tries to increase the cap. Plus there is the NHL lockout.

The more important problem of the league is the absence of the salary floor. There are still discussions on this topic.

I think that salary floor won't work in KHL. Salary cap? Sure. Salary floor? Very difficult for very obvious reasons. Most teams are heavily reliant on money sources that may or not may be there in next year... In NHL, every team is backed by serious businesses which make tons of money thanks to on-ice product. Pretty much every single of them, with maybe a couple of exceptions, could guarantee spending between 50-75M USD (or whatever the floor and cap is) for a foreseeable future. In KHL's case, some teams just look to stay afloat by spending as little as possible. Top eight or nine teams could easily pump up around a billion RUB for years. In fact, most likely, some of them (CSKA, as you said) will be annoyed that they can't spend any further. So no problem for top tier clubs. Yet having a salary floor would probably mean the end for the likes of Amur, Admiral, Neftekhimik and even Sibir.

 

[vorky]

I think that salary floor won't work in KHL. Salary cap? Sure. Salary floor? Very difficult for very obvious reasons. Most teams are heavily reliant on money sources that may or not may be there in next year... In NHL, every team is backed by serious businesses which make tons of money thanks to on-ice product. Pretty much every single of them, with maybe a couple of exceptions, could guarantee spending between 50-75M USD (or whatever the floor and cap is) for a foreseeable future. In KHL's case, some teams just look to stay afloat by spending as little as possible. Top eight or nine teams could easily pump up around a billion RUB for years. In fact, most likely, some of them (CSKA, as you said) will be annoyed that they can't spend any further. So no problem for top tier clubs. Yet having a salary floor would probably mean the end for the likes of Amur, Admiral, Neftekhimik and even Sibir.

It is not as bad as you described it.

There needs to be some minimum standard in the league. If a club is not able to fulfil it, the club should leave the league.

Of course, it is not reasonable to have the salary floor too high. But it cannot be 100M rubles either.

The data for the 17-18 season showed that 21 clubs (of 27) spent more than 500M rubles on salaries. So, not so many clubs with too low salary payments. Average was 665M

Of course, Slovan & Riga would need to raise the salary payments.

 

[powerplaymaker]

I'm not sure what you think about it, but I think the salary cap should be counted after the taxes. Since KHL is multi-national league with various taxation laws, some teams might get an unfair advantage with lower taxation. What do you think?

 

[HungryFrank]

I'm not sure what you think about it, but I think the salary cap should be counted after the taxes. Since KHL is multi-national league with various taxation laws, some teams might get an unfair advantage with lower taxation. What do you think?

No need, if NHL didn't handle it and it's working fine

 

[Exarz]

No need, if NHL didn't handle it and it's working fine

Im no expert on the taxation in North America, but I think the difference between, for example, Finland and Russia is quite more severe than comparing Canada to the US.

But then again, what difference would it even make, I don’t think any non-Russian team would be willing to spend even more money even if the cap hit was “in their favour”

 

[SoundAndFury]

What Exarz said. The salary cap matters to 2-3 teams in the league.

 

[powerplaymaker]

What Exarz said. The salary cap matters to 2-3 teams in the league.

But when the hard cap hits it might matter more. And why shouldn't the put everyone on the same line?

Let's say that there is a player who is worth 1 000 000 € per season. Playing in Russia the player would net 850 000, but in Finland its between 450 000 € and 500 000 € after taxes.

 

[Exarz]

But when the hard cap hits it might matter more. And why shouldn't the put everyone on the same line?

Let's say that there is a player who is worth 1 000 000 € per season. Playing in Russia the player would net 850 000, but in Finland its between 450 000 € and 500 000 € after taxes.

In a utopian world yes, but considering the losses Jokerit is doing with the current player budget, I doubt that they would increase it if it was a net salary cap, as they would have to add 5+ million euros in order to be on the same level as the Russian teams.

 

[hansomreiste]

But when the hard cap hits it might matter more. And why shouldn't the put everyone on the same line?

Let's say that there is a player who is worth 1 000 000 € per season. Playing in Russia the player would net 850 000, but in Finland its between 450 000 € and 500 000 € after taxes.

Regardless, Jokerit would always have to spend more to be at the same level. Let's say the bar is set at 1bn RUB. In this case, Jokerit would have less space than Russian teams. If Russians were able to spend 850M, then Jokerit would have only 450-500M. Yet if you made an adjustment for the Finns (which is only fair) and allowed them to spend up to 1.3bn RUB... Well, they still spend around 300M more just to be at the same level.

This is a really interesting topic. I hope there are some regulations in place to prevent such things from happening. A forced %30 difference in a budget is no joke.

 

[Rigafan]

Sorry for bringing this up in every other post but do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Saviour, hard salary cap? If the statements of the league bear any weight, 2019/20 will be the final season before the hard cap kicks in. I wanna believe SKA are reshaping to at least bring their expenditure to a more controllable level for the upcoming carnage. Under normal circumstances, teams like SKA and CSKA should get decimated. If not this season, they'll need to go from around 2b RUB to 900M throughout a single summer market. The fact that most top teams have remained relatively quiet is encouraging in that sense.

Even with a salary cap and as the KHL board said, they will make sure no secret payments are made to abuse it. There surely will still be ways to get round this salary cap? It happened in the UK when the league tried to introduce one (sure we are talking vast different numbers but still)

An example, let's use SKA then:

SKA have 100 left on their cap, they want to sign really good player X but he is wanting 200.. but the cap says only 100 left.
SKA decided to sign him for 100, but then he's assign a coach role with the team too for an extra 100? Or he's given some 'advisor' role and given the extra 100? Or they say he's teaching English while on his days off for the extra 100?

Will that be combated? if not the cap won't matter.

 

[vorky]

Even with a salary cap and as the KHL board said, they will make sure no secret payments are made to abuse it. There surely will still be ways to get round this salary cap? It happened in the UK when the league tried to introduce one (sure we are talking vast different numbers but still)

An example, let's use SKA then:

SKA have 100 left on their cap, they want to sign really good player X but he is wanting 200.. but the cap says only 100 left.
SKA decided to sign him for 100, but then he's assign a coach role with the team too for an extra 100? Or he's given some 'advisor' role and given the extra 100? Or they say he's teaching English while on his days off for the extra 100?

Will that be combated? if not the cap won't matter.

Not all details of the salary cap control are available. As I know, there is a standard player contract, where is written a base salary, bonuses. This contract is registered by the KHL, so the league exactly knows everything. There is a rule saying you cannot pay a player for anything (teaching english), if it is not written in the contract. And there is another rule saying what can be included in the contract (for example, renting a car/flat for a player).

In your case with a player X. It is very simple, a contract with him for 200 will not be registered by the league, so not binding. The club has to free 200 to sign him. So, releasing some other player.

The league will cooperate with the Russian tax office and law enforcement institutions to avoid a situation when a club wants to break the salary cap rule (for example, paying cash etc). I do not know if they will work with tax offices from other participating countries.

 

[Jussi]

In a utopian world yes, but considering the losses Jokerit is doing with the current player budget, I doubt that they would increase it if it was a net salary cap, as they would have to add 5+ million euros in order to be on the same level as the Russian teams.

And based on the player budgets published in Russian media, Jokerit budget is declining as well. Last season down to 9 million (7.5 for players, 1,5 for coaching staff and trainers).

 

[hansomreiste]

Even with a salary cap and as the KHL board said, they will make sure no secret payments are made to abuse it. There surely will still be ways to get round this salary cap? It happened in the UK when the league tried to introduce one (sure we are talking vast different numbers but still)

An example, let's use SKA then:

SKA have 100 left on their cap, they want to sign really good player X but he is wanting 200.. but the cap says only 100 left.
SKA decided to sign him for 100, but then he's assign a coach role with the team too for an extra 100? Or he's given some 'advisor' role and given the extra 100? Or they say he's teaching English while on his days off for the extra 100?

Will that be combated? if not the cap won't matter.

This is what I am also concerned about. vorky is confident that there will be no circumvention around that rule but I highly doubt it. Moreover, even the hard salary cap is actually not that hard for the KHL. There are tons of exemptions which will help to navigate around the limitations. I mean, bonuses won't be count towards the cap... LOL. SKA won't even have to do weird stuff in this case. Say, you sign Shumakov. Just give him 100. Put two articles into his contract as goal bonuses. If he scores 5 goals, he gets another 50. If he adds up 5 more, another 50. Or give them as appearance bonuses if you completely wish to remove the risk of Shumakov not scoring 10 goals in a whole season and getting bamboozled terribly by himself.

Though I have to say I am not exactly sure what articles you could put into a legally-binding KHL contracts, maybe there are some limitations of how bonuses could be handed as well. However, I believe there is nothing wrong with being able to hand out performance bonuses, so I really don't think that articles such as "He receives a 200,000,000 RUB payment if he plays in %75 of regular season games" would be frowned upon.

One good rule could be that the amount of bonus you hand out can, say, only %50 of the salary. If you give Shumakov 100 fiddies every year, then it can be 150 with bonuses max, no more.

But again this is Russia and KHL so I am not very hopeful, we'll see.

 

[vorky]

This is what I am also concerned about. vorky is confident that there will be no circumvention around that rule but I highly doubt it. Moreover, even the hard salary cap is actually not that hard for the KHL. There are tons of exemptions which will help to navigate around the limitations. I mean, bonuses won't be count towards the cap... LOL. SKA won't even have to do weird stuff in this case. Say, you sign Shumakov. Just give him 100. Put two articles into his contract as goal bonuses. If he scores 5 goals, he gets another 50. If he adds up 5 more, another 50. Or give them as appearance bonuses if you completely wish to remove the risk of Shumakov not scoring 10 goals in a whole season and getting bamboozled terribly by himself.

Though I have to say I am not exactly sure what articles you could put into a legally-binding KHL contracts, maybe there are some limitations of how bonuses could be handed as well. However, I believe there is nothing wrong with being able to hand out performance bonuses, so I really don't think that articles such as "He receives a 200,000,000 RUB payment if he plays in %75 of regular season games" would be frowned upon.

One good rule could be that the amount of bonus you hand out can, say, only %50 of the salary. If you give Shumakov 100 fiddies every year, then it can be 150 with bonuses max, no more.

But again this is Russia and KHL so I am not very hopeful, we'll see.

See article 51 (3), bonuses are counted towards the cap if a sum of individual bonuses exceeding 20% of the base salary. Using other words, your base salary is 100 & bonuses are 10 = bonuses are not counted towards the cap. Another case, your base salary is 100 & bonuses are 200 = bonuses are counted towards the cap, so 180 of bonuses is counted.

Team´s bonuses for making the Conference Final and beyond, so only 4 teams, are not counted towards the cap.

 

[powerplaymaker]

Jokerit and SKA stepping up here. Jokerit landing Niemi and Lepistö and SKA landing Lehterä and Kagarlitsky.

SKA has 6 imports now thou.. And three Finns in the middle: Kemppainen - Lehterä - Koskiranta. Lehterä might play as wingre.