New Russian Hockey League Set To Drop Puck In September
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Simon Says He Plans To Play
In New Russian Hockey League |
Russia’s Continental Hockey League (CHL) President Alexander Medvedev yesterday said that the league is “set to ice 24 teams in September,” according to Shawn McCarthy of the GLOBE & MAIL. Initially the league, which has been “billed as a potential competitor to the NHL,” will be a “refurbished, refinanced and slightly expanded Russian Super League, with the same 20 teams, plus one elevated from a lower tier and one each from the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Belarus and Latvia.” Medvedev said that the league “will adopt international rules and intends to hold a draft that could include NHL players.” The CHL’s 24 teams will play for the Gagarin Cup, named for Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space. The top two teams will then compete in a “Europe-wide championship.” Medvedev indicated that the CHL “will work in tandem with international partners -- and expects the NHL to eventually accept it as a European equal.” Nine Russian companies are “financing the league in addition to sponsoring individual teams.” Recently, NHLers LW Chris Simon and G John Grahame said that they would join the new league. McCarthy writes the CHL is “clearly more than just an expression of Russia’s sports ambitions, but reflects its increasing confidence on the world stage and financial clout from booming energy prices” (GLOBE & MAIL, 5/22).
DETAILS: SPORTINGNEWS.com’s Eric McErlain notes the CHL will play a 56-game schedule in its inaugural season. Medvedev said that after “paying an initial fee to join the league, all teams would eventually be eligible for a league-wide revenue sharing program.” The CHL’s salary cap will be “roughly $23.5[M] with a salary floor of $10[M].” About $16.7M “will cover 21 players and up to $6.8[M] can be allocated for four ‘star’ players.” The league’s top 10 forwards and defensemen and top five goalies based on points, plus/minus and goals-against average “will earn performance bonuses.” Teams’ rosters will consist of no more than 25 players, with a “maximum of five international players.” Teams also will “only be able to ice four internationals” per game. Sixteen teams will make the playoffs, with the first round being a best-of-five series and subsequent rounds being best-of-seven. Medvedev said that he “expects the league will expand to as many as 32 teams within five years, and many of Europe’s most prominent professional teams have expressed interest.” The first CHL draft will take place in ’09 (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 5/21).
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