In a deal that will have positive effects for both leagues, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and KHL president Alexander Medvedev signed a “memorandum of understanding” effectively regulating player transitions between the two leagues.
This is the second agreement of this nature signed by the two leagues with the first coming at the beginning of the 2010-11 season.
The major controversy that led to the necessity of an agreement occurred when star winger Alexander Radulov abandoned a contract with the Nashville Predators and signed a deal in the KHL in summer 2008.
The deal, effective until June 2012, requires that both sides “respect a player’s contract with the other league,” and they must follow a number of procedures to avoid conflicts when players switch between leagues.
This is an important agreement because it prevents each side from cannibalizing contracts from the other and will allow each league to protect the value that it is able to create for its own benefit.
