The 2014 Olympics and the performance of the Russian national team at it became a real “watershed” in relations between the FHR (Russian Ice Hockey Federation), headed by the famous Soviet goalkeeper Vladislav Tretyak and the KHL (Continental Hockey League) led by businessman Alexander Medvedev. Especially when it comes to the number of foreign legionnaires in the KHL clubs.
For supporting roles
Until 2008, the hockey power on the territory of Russia was carried out by the public organization FHR. But, starting with the 2008/2009 season, it began to be assigned an almost secondary, auxiliary function. And the honorable role of the "top five" began to emerge from the commercial KHL, born with the help of the structures of "Gazprom" and another legend of domestic hockey - Senator Vyacheslav Fetisov.
Over time, the KHL gathered the strongest teams not only of Russia, but also of several countries of the continent - Belarus, Latvia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Croatia and the Czech Republic. Thus, not only becoming a real trendsetter in European hockey fashion, but also challenging the North American NHL (National Hockey League). And she confirmed her high international status by inviting a number of famous hockey players from the same NHL. For example, Russian Ilya Kovalchuk and Czech striker Jaromir Jagr.
Each Russian club, and there are 22 out of 28 of them in the KHL this season, has the right, in accordance with paragraph 1.1 of Article 33 of Chapter 7 of the Sports Regulations, to include at least five legionnaires in the composition and release to the site. That is, players who do not have Russian civilian passports and cannot play for the Russian national team. The remaining six clubs of the league - Ukrainian Donbass, Belarusian and Latvian Dynamo, Croatian Medvescak, Czech Lev and Slovak Slovan - got the opportunity to have any number of foreigners, limited only by the payroll.
Discord sticks
It is this not entirely fair division, in which the Russian teams have to play with the real national teams of the world, and became the first point of the current disagreements between the KHL and the continuing responsibility for the development of hockey in the territory of the FHR country.
The first, first of all caring about the profitability of her project and maintaining the already high international status, insists on the maximum possible increase in the number of foreign hockey players in Russian clubs. Including, thanks to the so-called institution of dual citizenship.
The position of the President of the Kontinental Hockey League, Alexander Medvedev, is, in particular, that there is no need to artificially eliminate competition and that the best should play in the league according to a sporting principle.
According to the heads of many Russian clubs, it is now easier and cheaper for them to buy a ready-made foreign hockey player, since due to the limited limit, the price for Russian hockey students is incomparable with the quality of their training. And the appearance of high-quality legionnaires in the roster will not only significantly strengthen their teams, but will also attract new fans and increase the flow of money.
Jaromir Jagr, who spent several seasons at Avangard Omsk, supported Medvedev's position. The leader of the Czech national team at the Olympics believes that in order for the KHL to compete on equal terms with the NHL, it lacks high-level players, and therefore the limit must be removed.
And the second side - FHR - declares that the teams from Russia are not in a completely equal position with the same Medvescak and Donbass, and this seriously violates the sports principle. To some extent, Russian clubs are in solidarity with the Tretyak, rightly noting that now it is not easy for them to fight on equal terms with rivals who have the right to release two dozen masters from Canada and the USA on the ice.
In addition, an increase in the number of legionnaires, according to Tretyak, can block the path to big hockey for many talented Russians and will seriously affect the formation of the Russian national team. After all, its coaches will simply have nowhere to take qualified hockey players who can withstand the Canadian and American NHL stars at the Olympics and world championships.
Equalization in Sochi
On the eve of the Sochi Olympics, Vladislav Tretyak said that in the 2014/2015 season, the limit for legionnaires could be reduced to four. But this issue, experts believe, largely depends on the result of the performances of the Russian national team and will be discussed only after the end of the Games.
