Playing Overseas

[Randomtask68]

When teams begin the season overseas, such as the Coyotes and Bruins last year in Prague, are the teams compensated for losing one game's worth of revenue by not having that game in their home stadium? Do the cities that participate in these early season games pay to have NHL teams come to their arenas?

Another question is how well compensated are players from leagues such as the KHL, SEL, and SM-liiga compared to the NHL average salary? Will lower tier NHL players start to go overseas to play for better money in any instance (such as the KHL as some have done in the recent past)?

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[LadyStanley]

Yes, teams receive one "home game" equivalent in revenue for playing overseas.

In addition, the league picks up the air travel costs, some of the hotel costs. (There are at least two threads in the archives for the 2010 and 2009 European Premiere events with numerous stories linked.)

The league negotiates with the host cities/arenas for these events and sets a desired income level (which often sets the price much higher than an usual European league team at that venue).



Unclear exactly what salaries are in KHL, SEL, DEL, etc. (Unlike NHLPA which publishes salaries.) So a bit hard to compare.

A number of lower tier NHL (and AHL, ECHL, etc.) players have tried to extend their playing years by heading to Europe and/or take a break from North America for the adventure. Been happening a while (perhaps it's just more known/followed?).