BaN, they are charming people, aren't they?

Moscow isn't as bad as Reed's friends make out, especially for one making a serious amount of money. I wouldn't move my family there, but then I wouldn't move them to Nashville or Phoenix, either.

Anywhere would be ok if you're rich enough to insulate yourself from ever having to deal with the populace or the weather.

I actually disagree with that quite strongly.

I mispoke. I meant that many rich people do that, not that I advocate that as a lifestyle.

That is undeniably true, and more than a little sad in my book.

In any event, I think that we've already demonstrated that this will be an interesting experiment. I would also want to reserve judgment on its long term impact for at least three years.

Historically, the AHL has had a lot of guys who have NHL-level talent but have lost their way.

OK. If you mean the AHL are likely to lose their function as a the NHL's rehab League then you'd be right.

Whatever their reasons may be for signing him, the Caps are overpaying Federov (he's almost 39 and his production has been tailing off for the past six years.) And, I believe, they're doing solely because he has other playing options. This upward pressure on salaries will be the most significant initial effect of the KHL on the NHL.

The best young Russian players already do play in Russia as teenagers, but as things are now, they go to the NHL as soon as they can.

True enough. But that could change and, based on the Filatov story, it already is. Obviously extorting money, even from NHL teams, isn't something to be applauded. But, should it continue and adding the pressures that bomba has mentioned, it will surely mean there will be fewer young Russian players in the NHL in coming seasons. Last year Russians comprised three of the NHL's top five points scorers. Losing them, or younger players like them will hurt. A lot.

Edit: I also agree with Ursus. It'll take more than a season or so to see how this shakes down.

QUOTE:
"And, I believe, they're doing solely because he has other playing options. This upward pressure on salaries will be the most significant initial effect of the KHL on the NHL."

Insofar as any 39-year-old past-it future HOF player has options overseas or here, the Caps probably paid the prevailing wage for a 39-year-old past-it future HOF player. Whether or not somebody like that is really all that valuable to the team is debatable. I think the Caps felt like they had to sign some of the FA's they got last year after letting Huet go. That didn't go down well with the fans here, such as they are.

The Caps have a heretofor unseen opportunity right now to build a fan base in DC. The local media loves them right now and the fans are coming around.

Prior to last year, I was under the impression that the chief rival for Federov's services in 08-09 was not the Russian league, but the golf course. I guess he's not ready to quit yet. He seemed energized by the Caps late season run and really enjoyed playing with Ovechkin and under Boudreau.

I was under the impression that the chief rival for Federov's services in 08-09 was not the Russian league, but the golf course.

Heh! Maybe it still is, but nothing wakes up an old suitor more than a younger one with deep pockets ringing the doorbell.

Jumping aboard a bit late as usual, my opinion of this remains as before: the chances of any Finnish club joining a league such as the KHL are nil, and no amount of underwriting of losses by the league's sponsors will help. Overwhelmingly, the primary source of income for clubs is from the gate, and the potential erosion of the fan base, from playing against teams who represent almost no interest to almost all Finns, is simply too big a risk. Merchandising is at jocularly low levels for most SM-liiga clubs (off the top of my head, Kärpät lead this particular event by a country mile with about €0.9M of annual sales, HIFK are second at around the €0.5M mark, and the rest are well behind that), TV money is reputedly improving rapidly (though with CanalPlus refusing to release either money or viewing figures, separating facts from the press releases is impossible), but there isn't a club in the country that doesn't look at the bums on seats figures very seriously. Finnish club owners are no different from their North American or wherever counterparts, the sums of money involved may be on a different scale but the principles -- and lack of them -- remain constant. If there's a low risk way of making more money then they'll take it.

It's likely that Swedish clubs are in a similar position when it comes to sources of income, and I'd hazard that it extends well beyond Scandinavia. This makes the KHL being anything other than a domestic Russian league with lots of money close to impossible. The key question in my mind remains "how do you start it, how do you get the non-Russian teams aboard in the first instance?"

By underwriting the finances of the clubs? Possibly, I suppose, but for how long and what's happening back home when, say, Jokerit are away chasing roubles? SM-liiga are hardly going to keep a vacancy in the league for them, they've got their own business to run, and if the pyjama men can't hack the pace in the KHL, crowds dwindle and the league's pay masters see better opportunities elsewhere...

QUOTE:
An "entrepreneur" from Russia, or somewhere else, might be quite willing to pour money into a small Finnish team on the off-chance that they'll turn into KHL titans.

To my mind, this represents the only even semi-feasible way of a Finnish team being involved. Which one, though? The only team I'm aware of that has managed this financially engineered quantum leap is our old friend, Jokerit, but here Harri Harkimo had the wit to see the opportunity for a second major team in Helsinki, more or less guaranteeing the fan base. The only large city lacking a top flight ice hockey team is the sports graveyard of Vantaa, and they can't get the punters in in decent numbers when the opponents are from an hour down the road. If not Vantaa then you're looking at towns with a population somewhere in the range 20000 - 50000. Heh, mischieviously I've just thought of Viipuri...

However, pan-European ice hockey could succeed through an expansion of the current CL. This is the best way forward in my opinion: it gets the top clubs involved without interfering with their domestic status, and over a period of time can build up meaningful rivalries with clubs from abroad. This keeps the fans with the club and gives the owners the possibility of increased income at relatively low risk.

QUOTE:
If in a couple of years this league [KHL] is draining SM Liiga of talent, then he [Harkimo] might think again.

Can't see the relevance here, BaN. The NHL, Swedish and Swiss leagues all drain SM-liiga of talent (and Kimmo Lotvonen) and have done so for years. The KHL would become just another drain. I'm trying to understand how AdeC's point, that the KHL might attract top European players to the detriment of some NHL clubs, is different. Some clubs rely more on the marketing of star players than on a club being an identifiable part of the community to generate its fan base? There are some sad conclusions to be drawn from that, if true.

According to Wiki, Kärpät are the Finnish club who are interested:

"It has been reported that the league seeks to expand to 30 teams for the 2009–10 season. Two of the teams who have been invited are Swedish sides Frölunda HC and Färjestads BK, neither club has accepted nor rejected the offer as of yet. Ukraine's HC Sokil Kyiv may join in the near future. According to Russia Today News, Finland's Kärpät is also interested, as is the Czech Republic's Energie Karlovy Vary."

Some clubs rely more on the marketing of star players than on a club being an identifiable part of the community to generate its fan base?

In the NHL? Absolutely they do, at least outside Canada and the US Northern states.

Always wonderful to have your invaluable contributions, Muuk.

On your last point, I would say that virtually all NHL teams gave up on being an indentifiable part of the community long ago. And the strike only made things worse in that regard.

Thankyou ursus, much appreciated. Is it unfair to describe the NHL as a business marketing a sport?

Both Jokerit and Kärpät have been mentioned by the Russian news sources. Finnish news sources say rather a lot less, Kärpät's Wiki entry doesn't mention it whereas the CHL is linked, the entire "Possible expansion ..." section quoted above is omitted from the Finnish language version, and where Russian news sources have said "Kärpät are interested" I interpret as Kärpät have been approached and have said they'll think about it. Arponen and Junno have the reputation of being careful and cautious with the running of the club (having been brought in to resurrect the club after our early '90s bankruptcy, perhaps not surprising) and will not do anything that would put the club at risk. Kärpät are the current champions and the dominant team of recent years (about to end, I suspect) and Jokerit are the strongest financially in one of Europe's strongest ice hockey nations. The KHL can't really avoid us, but almost all the noise about them and us is coming from them.

The Caps are trying to be part of the community, but it's hard. The Wild do a pretty good job at it with their "State of Hockey" marketing push. The XCel Center is intended to be a monument to Minnesota's hockey heritage.

Is it unfair to describe the NHL as a business marketing a sport?

No, it isn't unfair. In fact I'd say that's exactly what it is. As Reed says, Individual clubs try, to a greater or lesser extent, to build community roots but the league has very little to do with it. The current NHL management views all sports as business opportunities and differentiates very little between them. Bettman came from the NBA and has attempted to impose an identical business plan on the NHL. It hasn't worked because the two sports are culturally different in ways which he fails, or refuses, to acknowledge.