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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on Jul 27, 2005 0:38:55 GMT -5
An emerging story from the land run that is 2005 NHL free agency: Jaromir Jagr is indicating that he may finish his career in Europe. That is if you consider Omsk, Russia to be Europe. Jagr visited Omsk this month talked with the team management, doctors, coaching staff, press, and fans. He's certainly acting like he's under contract with the Siberian franchise that only finished fourth in the Russian Super League. Jagr is not the only player that's on Omsk's radar. Omsk and many other teams are making a play for players in unexpected ways. Omsk recently came to an agreement with Alexander Frolov (formerly of the Los Angeles Kings) and convinced Alexi Ovechkin of your Washington Capitols to get his contract changed so that if he is bought out, cut, or sent to the AHL he will have the option of going to play for Omsk instead. Frolov had this to say: So how would all of the NHL fans feel if their teams players end up going to play in Siberia, Kiev, Moscow, Petersburg, etc. for a handful of sports-loving oligarchs? (Btw, someone said Abromovich - the owner of Chelsea FC - owns Omsk - he does not.)
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on Jul 27, 2005 3:39:05 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jul 27, 2005 6:11:50 GMT -5
Ovechkin is all but set to come play for the Caps. Even if he doesn't, so what? Sure the NHL loses out on a few good players if a bunch of guys go to Russia, but the NHL did pretty well without the Russian stars pre-Mogilny and the other original defectors. Unfortunately, its very tough to market the Russian/Eastern European stars... I've seen it first hand with Hasek (of course, he was a jerk/flake/punk to begin with), just as its hard to market the current crop of Euro stars in the NBA. The number of Russian players who are going to pick up and play over there is minimal at best, and their loss won't affect the potential rebirth of the NHL at all. As horrible as it sounds, people don't care about these guys who's last names they can't pronounce. Jagr simply isn't a draw any more, and the only guy who's loss would really hurt the league, in my opinion, is Kovalchuk. In all, I think the NBA parallel is proper - you'll lose out on some great players for sure, but they aren't critical to the league's health. As for the guy who owns Chelsea, I said that because ESPN told me so: sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=2116505
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Post by StPetersburgHoya (Inactive) on Jul 27, 2005 14:07:22 GMT -5
Yeah I saw the article. They are wrong - he owned the team 2 years ago - but he has divested himself of anything Russian because he is afraid of being the next Khodorkovsky (the Yukos guy).
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