The idea and the aim since the start for the KHL have been to be a European equivalent to the North American NHL and make the best Russian talents stay home (as long as possible) rather than go to the NHL.
I can’t see anything wrong with the idea to make a strong European league that is worth it to follow and to keep as many talents as possible to make the league attractive.
As matter of fact, keeping such a player as Sergei Mozyakin all the time is a great deal for the KHL, I think, even if he has probably chosen to stay in Russia for many other reasons (closer to family, friends etc.)
However, the KHL has evolved a lot since then, but it has been a bumpy journey indeed as we have seen quite a lot of teams come and go, and the overall number of teams in the league has changed as well since the start.
Most likely we haven’t seen quite yet the end of it.
Nonetheless, I have a feeling, at least when I hear Chernyschenko talk about the league like he did some time ago (see link:https://sportsrants.com/uncategorized/statement-can-secure-khls-future/), that the KHL is on the right track.
It’s not easy to invent a new concept and keep it running and evolving like that, and things, as we know, don’t happen over a night. Chernyschenko certainly knows that too, that we can believe.
But, as I said, it seems that they are on the right track with the league, and I think the KHL would do best to keep Chernyschenko as long as possible because he has enough of the commanding presence to run this.
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A bit of a side-track here, but a crucial such:
One thing Chernyschenko has still to battle with though is the salaries to the player, as we have heard every year that some clubs haven’t paid the salaries in time, a lot of times not even for several months.
That has to stop as quickly as possible because it is not a good commercial for the teams and for the league. It gives just a foul taste when we hear that clubs have problems paying as it gives the impression of being just an amateur prancing around on the wrong level.
I don’t know what to believe, but I am thinking myself, if you can afford to run a club of that stature, you have afforded to pay as well, and you have surely the ability to pay in time too.
Otherwise, it would be appropriate to make a deeper investigation of where all the money is going if not into the player’s accounts when the payday arrives.
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Big news coming up soon, though!
The most important hockey meeting in years for development, the World hockey forum. takes place the 16-17th December http://whforum.ru/ in Moscow.
Members of the organizing committee will be IIHF, Russian Hockey Federation, Ministry of the sport of the Russian federation and the Russian Olympic committee.
As you can see if you click the link http://whforum.ru/en/spikery/ there will be a lot of renowned hockey people who are going to speak, among them: Roman Rotenberg, Jari Kurri, Vladimir Yurzinov SR, Dmitry Chernyschenko of course and even an old legend such as Phil Esposito.
These are the keys of discussion at the WHF:
- Improving the prestige of Russia as a hockey power
- Popularizing ice hockey in Russia and in the world
- Exchanging experience in the area of management and development of hockey in the world
- Assisting in development of constructive relations among national associations of member states of the international federation
Perfect I’d say because this is something I have myself been strongly suggesting for a long time, a better cooperation between the leagues including all the players and the leaders.
The main reason for my wish is that hockey is not that big a sport as we sometimes may imagine, in fact, there are many, many miles still to walk.
Therefore, the Hockey need more people, those who are willing to evolve the sport at every possible level, that’s why it is also required a deeper communication and mutual aid.
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And here is my contribution even if I am not myself at the conference, such as it is, and it is something the much-initiated expert on the KHL, Alexandre Pouliot-Roberge, brought up as well in a Twitter message for some time ago:
Stop calling the non-Russian teams foreign.
If the KHL has the idea to make a strong league and keep it that way also, they must somehow look beyond the borders and treat the clubs Jokerit Helsinki, Slovan Bratislava, Medveṧčak Zagreb, Dynamo Minsk, Dinamo Riga, Barys Astana and Kunlun Red star as equals of the clubs within Russia.
All these are strong brands and should perhaps be even handled more carefully by the KHL than any other organization, because as I see it, these clubs are making the league as much as SKA St. Petersburg, CSKA Moscow, Dynamo Moscow or Magnitogorsk and AK Bars Kazan.
So, a change in attitude in that would be a great thing for the league and it will make the league take another close step to the NHL and become the pan-league they wish to be.
In other words, with all said above, we do have exciting times ahead, and we’ll see where all these have landed after the World Hockey Forum.
Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it.
-Lou Holtz
