Nothing wrong with what transpired. His injury was diagnosed on the ice as non spinal and they choose to carry him out on a vinyl stretcher. It's certainly not what we would see here in North America but given his injury there was no harm done. Funny this topic is brought up as the KHL just released a statement on their medical insights and actions towards the league and it's players. Here's the english version for those of you don't do the Cyrillic http://en.khl.ru/news/2010/10/18/23927.html
It's a new league that's operating as an alternative to the NHL, nothing wrong with any of the reasons listed. Look at soccer... the Premier League is considered the tops but there are a multitude of other leagues which are almost just as good. No reason why the KHL won't be almost or just as good as the NHL. As Russia progresses it's economy, the KHL will only become stronger. Only the Canadian journalists are going to bark that KHL is trying to take on the NHL which they aren't. At this point in time, they are taking on Europe and the next step will be becoming an equal alternative to the NHL in terms of quality and pay.
The KHL pays out more then the other Euro leagues. The top paying league outside of the KHL would be the Swedish Elite League which pays around 250K to it's top tier players and around 70-55k to it's midlevel players. There are massive tax hits that come along with those checks too. Swiss league pays close to the Swedes but not as good, although the tax breaks are far better. I don't mean to beat this shi- out myself but during the end of my time playing when looking for something in Europe, the main aspect that would pay you would be incentive deals for points and for the team finishing in a good position. Most teams in Sweden have changed but then they never paid international or top tiered guys in Crowns but Euros. The home based guys would get Crowns. Swiss teams always paid out in Francs and rarely based their salaries on the Euro, most international players would always ask for Francs and of course would set up a nice Swiss bank account, which as you may know is safe from anyone's fingers. If you didn't hit your agreed marks, you'd take a beating in your salary unless you claimed residency in the country which would help against the double taxes of the country you were in and Uncle Sam or Mr. Maple Leaf taking their cut. The great part about the KHL is they don't tax you and some teams also offer to pay you an additional chunk of change to cover your taxable losses from the US or Canadian gov's.
There is still a long way to go, though, to close the gap between KHL and NHL. I think the KHL infrastructure isn't nearly what the NHL is, and obviously geography plays a bit of a problem as well with all the travel. I think the only way the KHL can catch up is to recruit the top Russian guys to play their at some point. Right now, it seems that guys like Malkin, Ovi, Kovy, etc. are content to stay in North America.
Can't look at the NHL and KHL and compare them, it's not a fare fight. The NHL has been around since the orignal 6, KHL has been around 3 years. Then you have simple aspects such as the quality of life, North America vs Russia, the gaps are too large and transcend far more ideologies then just hockey. I'm not here to beat the KHL drum as being better then the NHL, it's not but it's solid #2 that's only going to get better and better.
I'm going to try and shy away from always putting up highlights and my seldom recaps of the week by always putting up Amur info but they played an epic game last week. Down 4-0 in the second period with 10 minutes to go Amur came back to win 5-4 in regulation. The KHL highlights of the above mentioned game were too short to do the game any justice so I'll just throw in a cool highlight reel from last season. The Eastern Russian fans do a wicked job of supporting their team. Good stuff. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0jt61N8cPc"]YouTube - ???? (?????????) ?????[/ame] And finally, RT (Russia Today) the leading English speaking Russian news channel is doing a special overview of the KHL. They went over each team for an indepth look at the 2010-11 league. First off is the 2 time champions AK Bars. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l980Ivyxs54"]YouTube - Ak Bars -- KHL's only champions[/ame] and here is SKA St. Petersburg [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvm_f0KzgtI"]YouTube - KHL dream team still in hunt for Gagarin Cup[/ame]
One more overview... for now Dinamo Riga [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnofg_i5y8Y"]YouTube - Underdogs on paper, Dinamo Riga ready to storm KHL Olympus[/ame] And now back to the KHL action.... Spartak took on the surging Dinamo Riga in what turned out to be a tight affair. Hasek was in net and ready for the high flying Riga team. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZWz92ZmYYs"]YouTube - KHL 2010/11: Spartak 2-3 Dinamo Riga[/ame]
SKA St. Petersburg recently canned their head coach. The rumor mill was abnormally quiet for the past few days and now I know why. Another big offer was faxed across the ocean to the Great One... very cool. http://rt.com/Sport/2010-10-21/ska-contact-gretzky-khl.html A day later the head office denied the reports... http://rt.com/Sport/2010-10-22/ska-denies-talks-gretzky.html ... let's see who turns up on the bench.
You're welcome, I'm glad you enjoy them. Do you have a team you support yet ? Also, as to your question about Radulov from last week.... he just signed a new 3 year deal today with the KHL. He will only return to the NHL once the CBA is reworked, which hopefully will let him be UFA and get out of his Nashville contract. Considering his newly minted deal, I'd say it will be a long time until you see him in the NHL.
Technically it is a two year deal, which combines with the year left on his current one, equals three.
Probably SKA St. Petersburg. I was a big Evgeni Nabakov fan when he played in San Jose, always thought he was a great goalie and a super nice guy. I hope he does well there, but I can't watch alot of KHL because of the time difference. Thanks for the info, can't say the NHL really needs him, though. I view him as a solid top-6 forward, so I'm glad he's doing well at UFA.
When the KHL season kicked off, I was feelin' pretty good about the chances of Spartak Moscow rising to the top of the league and possibly taking away the Cup from AK Bars... well that feeling is going away and fast. Spartak Moscow kicked it's coach to the curb after a series of mediocre games and the sub par performances are still being churned out. Things aren't so cheery around the Moscow club but you don't have to take my word for it, just listen to what the Dominator had to say this past weekend..... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur8WNhsXrKM"]YouTube - Spartak keeps dropping to KHL bottom[/ame] and when the tough times come around and everyone has had enough, it's always inevitable that a top flight team riding a solid winning streak will be next opponent and of course Spartak had to bounce back from their loss to CSKA by playing the on fire Traktor. This game actually took place Monday night, so if you're reading this 10.25, this game is from the future... gotta love the vast time differences that span across Russia. Too bad Spartak lost, as you can see Hasek would of made the difference in this one. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86zdm_S5ca4"]YouTube - KHL 2010/11: Traktor 4-3OT Spartak[/ame] And going back to the KHL overview, here's an overview of Metallurg... a familar face or two for you, some history and yes some women. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsVJoXfqqYs"]YouTube - Metallurg desperate to grab Gagarin Cup[/ame]
Thanks again, mate. I can't view videos at work cause of video restrictions, but I will certainly check them out when I get home. Keep posting updates and videos in your spare time if you don't mind, I find them incredibly informing as I'm trying to learn more about the KHL.
Chacal, you know that KHL games are on ESPN3 right? They archive the games so you can watch them whenever you want.