The KHL Is Keeping the NHL On Their Feet..

The Continental Hockey League has consumed its second National League Hockey Player in a month, snapping up Jaromir Jagr who signed with Avangrad Omsk yesterday for a deal that was first reported to be worth 35 million dollars over two seasons but was later reported to be worth 5 million dollars annually by Jagr himself. I think this was probably a move that Jagr will regret later on when he is retired, reason's being that how is the Hockey Hall of Fame going to react when they see that a player who has scored almost 700 goals jump the boat and play in Russia?, I think that Jagr has just booked his ticket out of the Hall of Fame.

To expand more thoughts on the KHL (which I did in a previous blog) I think that the league has basically guaranteed that some players that are playing overseas are likely to stay that way and the scary thing is that the league is expanding to other countries, possible teams include teams that are currently playing in the Elitserien and SM-liiga meaning that it could end some already in place leagues that exist. I think that the National Hockey League's overseas talent pool is likely to get smaller because with a league that is already set up where they can make big money and play internationally and get critical acclaim all across Eurasia, I don't know, just think about it, If you were a player born in Russia and you had the opportunity to play in your own country and earn the same salary as in the National Hockey League, that sounds like a pretty good offer in my opinion.

I know that the argument has been made that the National Hockey League is the worlds greatest hockey league but if a league that is made up of different countries and a wide array of skilled players that no one has ever seen, that has to be some challenge for the National Hockey League. I think that the National Hockey League has to start seriously thinking about expansion, yeah I know, the KHL could be a huge bust, but what if its not?, I think that looking at a Scandinavian team and maybe a couple of European teams honestly wouldn't be so bad, it could even distract people from the KHL.

Don't even get me wrong, I don't think the KHL is the end of the NHL, not even close, but I think that in the long run if the KHL still exist the National Hockey League seriously needs to think about how they are going to maintain top talent that could opt out to play in their homeland or for bigger money, such as Jagr. I don't know if their is a way to counter balance the problem of players leaving besides offering big money contracts in order to keep players (Evgeni Malkin, good signing though) but I would definitely be worried of keeping some young talent away from the KHL, what if this way five years ago that the KHL was starting to form?, would we still have Ovechkin, Malkin and Kovalchuck that is a question that might be re-opened as the league builds.

Thanks for reading

Liam