“The president’s request seems to have taken many by surprise” – Kommersant FM
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President Vladimir Putin ordered to deal with the “hockey dealers” who are trying to take young athletes abroad. At the “Russia is a Sports Power” forum, he addressed the Ministry of Sports and the Hockey Federation and asked to take measures to ensure that talent remained within the country. How serious is the problem? And how can it be solved? Kommersant FM sports commentator Vladimir Osipov looked into it.
When one of the great football or hockey masters goes to a serious club, we celebrate this as a success. The head coach of the Russian national football team, Valery Karpin, for example, encouraged our football players to, if possible, look for European teams to continue their careers.
When the National Hockey League draft took place this year, members of the press and experts proudly discussed that our hockey stars Dmitry Simashev and Matvey Michkov were selected in the first round, and even in the top ten. But the request of the country’s president at the “Russia is a Sports Power” forum seems to have taken many by surprise:
“We need to understand what we should do with these hockey businessmen who take children from sports schools and drag them abroad. I would like to ask the Ministry of Sports to return to this issue. And the Federation too. There is a lot of dependence there, there is a lot of money flowing in, and it causes obvious damage to us. And there must be a certain legal framework and guarantees both for the state and for the participants in all this activity.”
If the president speaks, then such a problem exists and needs to be solved. I am sure that both the Ministry of Sports and the Hockey Federation will deal with this immediately.
But if we are talking about very young hockey players, then their parents are solely responsible for them. And in any case, they will decide in which country and camp of which club their child will continue to develop. If we talk about those who have already signed the first contracts, then lawyers come into play.
But it’s difficult to call a mass exodus of Russians to the NHL now. Facts are stubborn things. In 2023, 19 Russians were selected in the draft. This is the worst result in the last six years. Hockey expert Igor Larin is confident that the exodus of young players is not the main problem of our hockey:
“This is a complex of problems. I think the first person in the country noted one of them, but perhaps it is not the most important. We definitely need to make qualitative improvements in the development of hockey, but for now we look more like a sleepy kingdom.”
Moreover, in the NHL, despite all the difficulties of interaction, they are trying to comply with certain agreements and not pull out players with existing contracts. Russians who already play overseas also have no problems, emphasizes hockey commentator Dmitry Fedorov:
“I have not seen any leaders in the NHL or club leaders discriminate against Russian players and speak out against them. The NHL is one of the few leagues and structures abroad that generally treats Russia and Russians kindly.”
Perhaps that is why even young hockey players who were selected in the draft are in no hurry to go overseas. The same Matvey Michkov is in no hurry to move to Philadelphia, although the Flyers management is ready to offer the Russian prodigy good money. First, Michkov is going to work out his contract in Russia.
But CSKA signed goalkeeper Ivan Fedotov, despite his existing agreement with the same Philadelphia. So on the other side, to put it mildly, they are also dissatisfied with the actions of our functionaries. And if, after a direct request from the president, hockey officials put in order all the legal aspects related to the departure of athletes, including very young ones, abroad, then not only Russia will benefit from this.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
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