Draft: why it pays to select Russian players

NHL executives’ biggest fear is wasting a good draft pick by selecting a Russian player who ultimately decides to stay in the KHL.

The Hurricanes had a bit of a scare with Nikita Nikishin’s contract situation, even though everything worked out for them in the end. In his interview, Dan Milstein revealed that he explained to the Hurricanes why it was an advantage to draft Russian players. Carolina listened well, drafting no fewer than 13 players from Russian teams in the last three auctions. Milstein explains the advantage by the fact that players from Russia can develop at the professional level, while the teams that drafted them can retain their rights until the age of 27. This allows players to arrive in the NHL with experience at the professional level and a level of play on a par with the best. Meanwhile, a Canadian Hockey League player must be signed within two seasons of being selected in the draft. In the NCAA and USHL in the U.S., it’s four seasons. This forces teams to sign interesting prospects early, so most will play in the AHL, and it takes up space on the total number of contracts [content-ads] Milstein’s logic is that many North American prospects with NHL entry-level contracts are ultimately ready to play in the NHL towards the end of that contract, forcing the team to give them a little more money up front. As for the Russian player, he’ll be able to use up all the years of his NHL entry-level contract,which saves the Bettman teams money.It’s a philosophy the Canadiens seem to have adopted in recent years with Nick Bobrov. Guys like Alexander Zharovsky and Bogdan Konyushkov can take the time to develop in Russia without taking a spot on the total number of contracts, leaving more room for North American prospects to come and develop within the organization or simply accept a contract to continue playing in the CHL.

Milstein has a good point, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see more and more NHL executives adopting such a strategy [spacer title=’Overtime’] – We hope to see him make the team.

– It’s not over for Eugenie.

– Wow.