The difficult geopolitical situation in the world continues to have a direct impact on Russian sports championships.
The number of legionnaires in them is gradually declining, and many of those who decide to continue their careers in Russia face serious difficulties at home.
We are talking about both the ban on playing for the national team, and the harassment in social networks.
At the same time, in the case of the Latvian goalkeeper Janis Kalnins, the local hockey federation (LHF) went further and tried to impose a ban on his transfer to Amur.
The situation around Kalnins received wide coverage in the press a couple of weeks ago, when it became known about the signing of an agreement between the goalkeeper and Amur.
In the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation, they were quick to react and announced the removal of the athlete from playing for the national team of their country.
They also noted that the verdict will not be changed even if the goalkeeper ever returns to the local championship.
The goalkeeper himself did not stand aside.
According to him, he thought over the decision well and chose the best option for his family, although he was well aware of the reaction it could cause in his homeland.
It seemed that an end was put to this in the history of Kalnins, but the federation did not calm down and continued its attempts to complicate the life of its athlete.
According to reports on the official website of the organization, this week an application for the transfer of the goalkeeper entered the transfer system of the International Hockey Federation, but the LHF imposed a ban on it.
It is still unknown how the IIHF reacted to this event and whether the LHF veto is capable of preventing Kalnins from playing in the KHL.
Nevertheless, this case once again indicates the current state of affairs in world hockey.
Currently, many foreign players are under serious pressure, which is why they are forced to refuse to represent Russian teams.
So, a few days ago, Lukas Klok was forced to terminate the contract with Neftekhimik.
The Czech defender joined the roster of Nizhnekamsk in 2021 and immediately became the team's second scorer in the regular season.
In 44 matches, he chalked up five goals and 26 assists, losing only to forward Marat Khairullin in points (17 + 15).
At the same time, in the playoffs, he did not slow down and broke into first place in terms of the number of scoring points (1 + 3).
And although this did not allow the "wolves" to overcome the first round of the playoffs, the legionnaire left an extremely pleasant impression of himself.
Apparently, Klok himself was also pleased with his new club and at the end of 2021 he hurried to conclude a new two-year agreement with him, but could not fulfill it.
And this despite the fact that the Czech himself wanted to stay in Nizhnekamsk.
“At home, Lukasz and his family were subjected to strong psychological pressure.
Together with him, until the last, we hoped that everything would be settled, calmed down.
But, unfortunately, the pressure on him, including threats to his life and his family, does not stop to this day.
In this situation, the safety of the hockey player and his family is more important.
Therefore, we came to an agreement to terminate the current contract with Klok.
I emphasize that the rights to the player remain with our club.
We hope that the situation will stabilize over time and Lukash will be able to return to us, ”said Igor Larionov, director of Neftekhimik.
Klok himself said goodbye to the club very warmly and admitted that he was sad to leave Nizhnekamsk.
And later confirmed the information about the threats received against him.
In an interview with Sport.cz, he said that he was repeatedly sent frightening messages from anonymous accounts on social networks, and in the Czech Republic, the majority have a negative attitude towards athletes playing in the KHL.
At the same time, Lukash himself did not speak badly about Russia and the Russians.
Apparently, the parting with Lawrence Pilut took place in a similar vein.
Last season, the defender represented Tractor and helped Chelyabinsk to reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2018, but left the team in the summer.
Like Clock, he will spend his next competitive year in North America.
But if the Czech chose Arizona, then the Swede went to Buffalo.
At the same time, the Russian team retained the rights to the hockey player, as well as hopes for his return.
And this is not surprising.
Although he looked rather mediocre in the regular season (0 + 11), he opened up in the playoffs and scored eight (1 + 7) points.
Only Vitaliy Kravtsov (7 + 3) and Tomas Ghica (5 + 7) scored more.
“The rights to Pilut in the KHL remain with Traktor.
We agreed with him that we would see how the situation would change and hope for the best.
In the next season, there are candidates among foreign hockey players for Pilut’s place, ”the club’s general director Ivan Savin quotes the Bookmaker Rating.
Thus, Pilut added to the list of Traktor legionnaires who will not help him in the new KHL season.
Back in May, it became known that goalkeeper Roman Vill, as well as forwards Tomasz Ghica and Lukas Sedlak, would miss the upcoming championship.
The future of Nick Bailen, who has a Belarusian passport, also remains in question.
But Finn Teemu Pulkkinen will definitely play.
“At the end of February, the guys had concerns.
They did not understand what was happening, they talked about the pressure that is being placed on themselves and their families.
But thanks to the joint work of the coaching staff and management managed to convince them to stay.
They explained that there would be no pressure here.
All issues that arose, including financial ones, were resolved for them.
Although there was uneasiness during the playoffs, and it was reflected in their game.
When the season ended, they said that they would continue to look at the situation.
Tomasz Ghica immediately said that he was unlikely to return.
There was a possibility of the return of Villa and Sedlak, but they still decided to play in the Czech Republic.
I can say that there were no problems with the legionnaires at Traktor, they are professionals and good people, ”Chelyabinsk head coach Anvar Gatiyatulin said in June.
But if the same Czech Traktor players notified the management of their intention in advance and provided the team with enough time to find a replacement, then some did not act so nicely.
For example, Daniel Odette.
The Canadian completed the last regular season as the third scorer of Vityaz near Moscow, and in May he signed a new contract with him.
However, less than two months later, it was terminated on his initiative.
The team itself did not comment on what happened, but Ak Bars star forward Vadim Shipachev expressed his opinion.
“I see the news that Daniel Odette will not come to Vityaz.
This is difficult to understand.
Why sign a contract if you don't go to work later?
If you immediately know that you will not play in Russia, then why did you sign?
I think now they will bet more on the youth.
They will get more playing time.
Let's see who takes advantage of their chance.
Last season, Dimka Rashevsky shot a wonderful shot at Dynamo ... If there are fewer foreigners now, then such stars ... will light up more often, ”said the silver medalist of the Beijing Olympics Match TV.
You can also recall the incident with Miks Indrashis.
According to Spartak, the Latvian striker signed a contract with Muscovites, but later called this information unreliable.
According to him, at the moment he has a valid contract with another club.
He also stressed that he is a patriot of his country, thus hinting at the impossibility of his moving to Russia.
In turn, Spartak assured that the agreement was drawn up in accordance with the regulations and registered with the KHL Central Information Bureau, therefore, it was recognized by the IIHF and must be implemented.
“The issue of the current contract between HC Spartak (Moscow) and Miks Indrashis will be decided in the legal field, and not in the public space.
If the player decides not to fulfill the terms of the contract, he must pay compensation to the club in accordance with the KHL regulations, ”the press service of the red-and-whites noted.
And although there is still enough time left before the closing of the additional application period, and the rosters of many representatives of the league are not yet completed, we can already judge the reduction in the number of foreigners.
Of course, this is largely due to the departure of the Finnish "Jokerit" and the Latvian "Dinamo" from the championship, but even without this the difference is more than significant.
For comparison: last season, 294 legionnaires played in the KHL - 33.3% of all 883 players in the championship.
And if you believe the authoritative portal EliteProspects, now their number has decreased to 114 (20.1%).
Yes, this is largely due to the lack of information on the composition of the Chinese Kunlun, but even with this in mind, the difference is more than significant.
As a result, several teams have already appeared in the KHL that do not have at their disposal a single foreign player from far abroad.
In the same Ak Bars, only the Belarusian Christian Henkel and the Kazakhstani Kirill Panyukov are still listed, and Lokomotiv consists entirely of Russians.
And, as the head coach of Yaroslavl Igor Nikitin noted, the reason for this is the lack of worthy candidates.
“We have two positions that we will strengthen.
We are looking.
I would not say that we will play without legionnaires - we just have a sufficient number of guys with a Russian passport, enough young people.
This is where you need to take advantage of this opportunity.
We are looking for attackers.
The market is pretty empty right now.
At the same time, we are not obsessed with the fact that we must definitely find someone.
We are ready to start the season and work with those who are now on the team, ”the KHL press service quotes Nikitin.
Thus, we can already say that in the 2022/23 championship, the Russians, who until now have been inferior to competitors from abroad, will get a little more opportunities to prove themselves.
The only question is how it will affect the level of the tournament itself.