AbNormal27
11-15-2005, 12:15 PM
NHL Europe
Ex NHLer Slava Fetisov hopes to create a hockey franchise in Europe which mimics the National Hockey League.
Slava Fetisov has a dream. Russia's Sports Minister wants the Stanley Cup champion to play the champion of a new league he is helping start up in an outdoor game in Moscow's Red Square.
Fetisov knows this won't happen anytime soon but he broached the possibility of the game during a walk across Red Square with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman earlier this year.
"I said, 'Listen, it would be nice to have a hockey game here one day in Red Square. It would be good publicity and promotion for the game itself, a game in Red Square, one of the most recognizable tourist spots in the world,' " Fetisov said in a recent interview. "He asked whether it was possible and I said anything is possible in Russia."
Fetisov is the driving force between the Euro-Asian Hockey League that will start play next September.
Nine teams which are currently in Russia's top league, the Super League, have signed a letter of intent to join the new league. Three other teams - from ex-Soviet Union countries - have also agreed to join. The Euro-Asian league plans to grow to 16 teams in its second season and then expand to European countries like Sweden, Finland, Germany and the Czech Republic.
In other words, Fetisov wants to set up a Pan-European league, kind of a version of the NHL in Europe.
The Euro-Asian league will have a draft like the NHL and a players' union is also in the cards. League officials are using the NHL and the NHL Players' Association as a model for their new structure. Igor Kuperman, who worked for Winnipeg and Phoenix of the NHL for 14 years, is acting as a hockey operations consultant to Fetisov.
"We have lots of people who want to invest money in Russian hockey," says Fetisov. "This won't hurt hockey. We need to change something. To build something along the lines of an NHL in Europe will help international hockey move forward."
The formation of a new league is another chapter in the long-standing fight between Fetisov and the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, which is headed by Alexander Steblin. There is no love lost between Fetisov and Steblin, and Steblin is on record as saying the organization of the Russian national championship is the federation's privilege.
As far as Fetisov is concerned, the teams that remain in the Russian Super League can play for the Russian title because the teams in the new league will be playing for something completely different.
The league has the blessing of Russia President Vladimir Putin along with support of the governments of the regions the teams are based in, which is important in the world of Russian politics.
Fetisov believes that fans and sponsors want something more than the Russian league.
"If we are not going to think about the future we will lose the interest of those who pay the money and we will lose the interest of the NHL because we will not produce the players," he says. "To build something similar to the NHL in Europe will help international hockey move forward.
"We need something to get the people in the stands. I think it would be good to build the interest and to keep the superstars in (Russia) and have a series against the NHL."
Fetisov has to walk a fine line here.
The way things work in Russia is that Fetisov, as Minister of Sports, works at arms length from national governing bodies such as the Russian hockey federation.
Fetisov has worked behind the scenes to iron out a transfer agreement between the NHL and Russia but to no avail. Russia is the only country which does not have a transfer pact with the NHL and relations between the federation and the NHL are frosty.
Fetisov supports the federation, at least publicly.
"I have to support them and do nothing behind the back of the IIHF and the NHL. I told Gary (Bettman) a couple of years ago we would try something (i.e. a new league). More money has come into hockey. It is the rights of the people who pay the big bucks to build something that is equal to the NHL. If they (Russian players) wish to go (to the NHL), they can do. But we have the right to try to keep our players here."
Not sure if the Euro-league idea will fly, but a neat idea. I think the game in Red Square has a better chance of happening.
Aaryn
Ex NHLer Slava Fetisov hopes to create a hockey franchise in Europe which mimics the National Hockey League.
Slava Fetisov has a dream. Russia's Sports Minister wants the Stanley Cup champion to play the champion of a new league he is helping start up in an outdoor game in Moscow's Red Square.
Fetisov knows this won't happen anytime soon but he broached the possibility of the game during a walk across Red Square with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman earlier this year.
"I said, 'Listen, it would be nice to have a hockey game here one day in Red Square. It would be good publicity and promotion for the game itself, a game in Red Square, one of the most recognizable tourist spots in the world,' " Fetisov said in a recent interview. "He asked whether it was possible and I said anything is possible in Russia."
Fetisov is the driving force between the Euro-Asian Hockey League that will start play next September.
Nine teams which are currently in Russia's top league, the Super League, have signed a letter of intent to join the new league. Three other teams - from ex-Soviet Union countries - have also agreed to join. The Euro-Asian league plans to grow to 16 teams in its second season and then expand to European countries like Sweden, Finland, Germany and the Czech Republic.
In other words, Fetisov wants to set up a Pan-European league, kind of a version of the NHL in Europe.
The Euro-Asian league will have a draft like the NHL and a players' union is also in the cards. League officials are using the NHL and the NHL Players' Association as a model for their new structure. Igor Kuperman, who worked for Winnipeg and Phoenix of the NHL for 14 years, is acting as a hockey operations consultant to Fetisov.
"We have lots of people who want to invest money in Russian hockey," says Fetisov. "This won't hurt hockey. We need to change something. To build something along the lines of an NHL in Europe will help international hockey move forward."
The formation of a new league is another chapter in the long-standing fight between Fetisov and the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, which is headed by Alexander Steblin. There is no love lost between Fetisov and Steblin, and Steblin is on record as saying the organization of the Russian national championship is the federation's privilege.
As far as Fetisov is concerned, the teams that remain in the Russian Super League can play for the Russian title because the teams in the new league will be playing for something completely different.
The league has the blessing of Russia President Vladimir Putin along with support of the governments of the regions the teams are based in, which is important in the world of Russian politics.
Fetisov believes that fans and sponsors want something more than the Russian league.
"If we are not going to think about the future we will lose the interest of those who pay the money and we will lose the interest of the NHL because we will not produce the players," he says. "To build something similar to the NHL in Europe will help international hockey move forward.
"We need something to get the people in the stands. I think it would be good to build the interest and to keep the superstars in (Russia) and have a series against the NHL."
Fetisov has to walk a fine line here.
The way things work in Russia is that Fetisov, as Minister of Sports, works at arms length from national governing bodies such as the Russian hockey federation.
Fetisov has worked behind the scenes to iron out a transfer agreement between the NHL and Russia but to no avail. Russia is the only country which does not have a transfer pact with the NHL and relations between the federation and the NHL are frosty.
Fetisov supports the federation, at least publicly.
"I have to support them and do nothing behind the back of the IIHF and the NHL. I told Gary (Bettman) a couple of years ago we would try something (i.e. a new league). More money has come into hockey. It is the rights of the people who pay the big bucks to build something that is equal to the NHL. If they (Russian players) wish to go (to the NHL), they can do. But we have the right to try to keep our players here."
Not sure if the Euro-league idea will fly, but a neat idea. I think the game in Red Square has a better chance of happening.
Aaryn