World Legends Hockey League execs meet with Gary Bettman, Bill Daly, Rene Fasel

[JA]

The World Legends Hockey League debuted last season with a tournament that took place between November 2015 and January 2016. The league, organized by Pavel Bure, featured six national teams (Sweden, Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Germany) consisting of professional hockey players aged 45 and older. The semi-finals and finals were broadcast live on Russian television. These teams featured an array of all-time hockey greats. Representing the teams included names like Esa Tikkanen, Jari Kurri, Mats Naslund, Pavel Bure, Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, and so on.

The 2015-16 Final took place on January 30, 2016, as Team Russia claimed an 8-5 victory in the inaugural WLHL Final against Team Czech Republic.

Last week, the Legends League executives met with the NHL and the IIHF's Rene Fasel for an hour to discuss plans for the future, including the potential inclusion of North American teams and a partnership between the leagues.

http://en.hockeylegends.ru/news/Geri_Bettmen_My_izuchim_vse_vozmozhnosti_vzaimodejstviya

Gary Bettman: we will explore all cooperation options
27.09 20:04

On 27 September, the management of the World Legends Hockey League met with National Hockey League representatives in Toronto.

The Legends League was represented by President Pavel Bure, Park of Legends President Alexey Kasatonov, Hockey Legends Club President Alexander Yakushev, official representative of the Legends League in North America Igor Larionov and Legends League Executive Director Dmitry Tugarin.

The National Hockey League was represented by Gary Bettman, commissioner of the National Hockey League, his deputy Bill Daly and Donald Fehr, Executive Director of the National Hockey League Players' Association. Also present was René Fasel, President of the International Ice Hockey Federation.

At the meeting, the parties noted the importance of cooperation to promote ice hockey. They also discussed the possible cooperation formats between the two leagues and, specifically, the establishment of an integrated framework for holding matches and the possible accession of North American teams to the World Legends Hockey League.

Gary Bettman, commissioner of the National Hockey League, said that, in his opinion, the cooperation opportunities were interesting and that the NHL would consider all the alternatives available for the two organisations to work together more closely, including North America’s participation in the Legends League.

Legends League Executive Director Dmitry Tugarin, commented: “The meeting continued for over an hour. We had a quite lively discussion. NHL and NHLPA representatives wanted to hear absolutely all the details of the first season. René Fasel, who made sure to be there for the discussion, offered a lot of support for our programme. We could see that the leaders of North American hockey were impressed by our group, represented by Pavel Bure, Igor Larionov, Alexander Yakushev and Alexey Kasatonov.

(via Google Translate):

https://www.sport-express.ru/hockey/russia/news/pavel-bure-u-ligi-legend-ogromnaya-zainteresovannost-v-severnoy-amerike-1048939/

27 September 19:51 | HOCKEY - Russia
Pavel Bure: "In the League of Legends is a huge interest in North America"

League of Legends President Pavel Bure stressed that the meeting with NHL commissioner Gary Bettmenom was very informative. According to Storm, the venue of the "Final Four" is still under discussion, reports from Toronto correspondent "SE" Igor Rabiner.

- It was a very interesting meeting - said Bure. - In addition to NHL management attended Rene Fasel. We were told that are expanding in Europe, where we already have seven teams, and we have a great interest in expanding in North America. The meeting lasted more than an hour and was very informative.

Where the final four to be held? While in the discussion stage. Canada - is not only Gretzky and Lemieux, and Coffey, Messier, Chelios and others. Their involvement would give a lot.

Full games are archived on the World Legends Hockey League YouTube channel.

The WLHL last congregated for a gala in Moscow during the 2016 World Championships to celebrate the "70th anniversary of Russian hockey." Team Russia faced off against Team World Legends in a non-tournament match. The participation of North American players leads one to suggest that stars from both Canada and the United States could soon participate in league play.

http://en.hockeylegends.ru/news/Legendy_Rossii__sbornaya_Ligi_Legend_95

Russian Legends vs Legends League Stars 9:5
21.05 12:52

During a one-day break in the world championships, the Park of Legends hosted Ice Hockey Day marking 70 years of Russian ice hockey. The festival was organised by the Legends League in cooperation with the Ice Hockey Day general partner, Norilsk Nickel, the world’s largest non-ferrous metal producer, as well as the Hockey Legends club, with additional support from the Park of Legends sports and entertainment centre.

Ice Hockey Day culminated with a gala match, World Legends Under Moscow Stars, between champions of the Legends League’s first season, Russian Legends team, and the Legends League Stars team.

Last October, the Legends League team was represented exclusively by European players in another gala match, Legends Take Up the Challenge. This time, the team had an impressive reinforcement from across the ocean, including Chris Chelios, Lanny McDonald and Dino Ciccarelli.

The Russian team also welcomed several “new” players who had not competed in the Legends League before. They included Alexei Yashin, Alexei Morozov and Alexander Guskov.

The very beginning of the match was dominated by the guests, who made several dangerous attacks right off the bat. Russian Legends needed only two minutes to take a look around, and Alexander Mogilny scored the first goal. Almost immediately, 44 seconds after Moginly’s move, Chris Chelios evened the score.

However, Sergei Fyodorov needed even less time, 34 seconds, to get the home team ahead.

Then the game calmed down a little but not for too long. Vyacheslav Fetisov, Pavel Bure and Mogilny – again, within only 45 seconds – made Ari Sulander rake out the puck from the net. Before the first period was half way through, the score was 5:1.

Spectators had to wait for the next goal until the middle of the second period, when Roger Hansson made a beautiful shot to close the gap a little. Almost every goal in the match was masterful, which is not surprising considering the number of hockey stars per square metre.

Hansson’s goal got the relaxed Russians excited, and they responded with three consecutive goals, two by Pavel Bure, who perfomed the hat trick.

...

Russian Legends: Mikhailovsky (23:37 Zvyagin); Fetisov – Kasatonov, Byakin – Guskov, Tyurikov – Shargorodsky; Fyodorov – Larionov – Bure, Kamensky – Mogilny – Kovalenko, Prokhorov – Yashin – Morozov, Kozhevnikov, Boldin.
Legends League Stars: Sulander (43:49 – 43:47, 44:35 – 45:00 empty net); Rohlin – Svensson, Hiemer – Virta, Chelios – Scerban, Renz; Naslung – Gustafsson – Hansson, Kurri – Helminen – Ciccarelly, Moravec – Peterek – Janecky, McDonald.

I am curious as to what a potential partnership between the NHL, IIHF, and WLHL might look like. The addition of North American teams in league play would already be quite exciting for viewers who wish to once again see their idols play at a competitive level. Stay tuned.

Click to read more...

 

[ScottyBowman]

I disagree with Pavel. I do not see a huge interest in this stuff in North America.

 

[JA]

Chris Chelios vouched for the league in May:

http://en.hockeylegends.ru/news/Kris_Chelios_V_Rossii_my_snova_perezhili_oschuscheniya_proshlyh_let

Chris Chelios: Pavel Bure has done a great job
26.05 15:51

Three-time Stanley Cup winner, defenseman Chris Chelios, who became the author of the double gate in the Legends team Russia in the gala match "World Legends under the Moscow Stars" May 20, shared his impressions of the last game in Moscow. Chelios compared it with the atmosphere of the game "Winter Classic".

– Over the past 5 years i have had the oppurtunity to play in many alumni games, my favorite have been the outdoor games at the winter classics. Some crowds were as big as 45,000 fans, showing how much respect they had for the legends of hockey. It only makes sence that europeans and where we played may 20th in Russia would be a thrill for not only the players but the fans as well. Pavel Bure has done a great job and with the help of his x teamates and past legends put on a great show. It was great to see and play with players i havent seen for years. I felt the fans enjoyed it as much as we did playing the game. I hope this game and more events like it become more and more popular in the future and i think it will. I would like to thank everyone involved for making my trip to Russia an amazing expierence, and to all the players was a great game to relive the past years and share with you. Great time!

Thank you
Chris Chelios

 

[Sens Rule]

I disagree with Pavel. I do not see a huge interest in this stuff in North America.

It would do great in Canada. I bet they would sell out 10-17000 seat arenas if you got to see the Yzerman, Messier, Sakic, Lafleur types of players (and tickets were only $15-30). If you somehow got Gretzky or Mario... It would be even bigger.

 

[Son Goku]

If they got Gretzky and Mario they would sell out

 

[wonton15]

Mats Naslund? Boy am I young. Thought that name was a mistake

 

[Rorschach]

Jagr can be the first NHL/WLHL player.

 

[Claypool]

This is the only international tournament Russia can win.

 

[uncleben]

I disagree with Pavel. I do not see a huge interest in this stuff in North America.

I'd watch it.

In person if it was feasible, and on TV if not.