The NHL is certainly a tougher sell now. Think about how ready you'd have been at 18 to travel half way across the world to a country where you don't speak the language, all so you could get paid less than half as much as you would make if you stayed at home. As the WTimes notes, "[t]he new CBA caps rookie pay at $850,000 a season for four seasons, with hard-to-achieve incentives available. Playing for Omsk, Ovechkin would make $1.8 million, be supplied with a car and a condo and pay no taxes." The Caps would still retain Ovechkin's rights for another year, but that's cold comfort. Anyway, on to other quick hits...
- The Panthers like Markus Naslund (who doesn't) and may have the cap room to sign him. [Canada.com]
- For some reason, the Isles are supposedly interested in Brian Leetch as well as a sniper (Alexei Kovalev, Ziggy Palffy or Peter Bondra) to play on Alexei Yashin's wing. [Newsday]
- Possibly "in" in Detroit: Nikolai Khabibulin, Glen Murray and former Wings Chris Osgood (?) and Martin Lapointe. Possibly "out" in Hockeytown: Hatcher, Whitney, McCarty, Chelios. [Detroit News]
- Jeff O'Neill wants to be a Leaf. [TSN.ca]
4 comments:
It's not just Ovechkin, either. Many of the Europeans are rumored to be staying put, including guys like Datsyuk and Morozov.
When was the last time the NHL had this much direct competition? If the Euros decide to stay on that side of the pond, the NHL will become a league of Canadian plumbers, but maybe that's what this CBA's all about: protecting jobs from foreign competition.
i obviously haven't read enough back story here. Is the money difference between the NHL and Russia directly related to the new agreement or are the Caps just cheaping it down?
It's totally related to the new CBA - the Caps can't low ball him. Basically, they say "here's the most we can offer you under the new rookie salary cap - do you want it or not?"
i figured as much.
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