KHL, NHL, Russian Prospects and Team Russia

The KHL just released the set of rules for the 2010-11 season, and it contains an interesting part, how the KHL will regulate fights. Until the 2009-10 season it just followed the IIHF rules, which had a five minutes major plus game misconduct for any fight. But from the next season it's going to change.

The KHL will give less penalties for fighting, but at the same time they will be stricter. As usual some rules follow the NHL ones, like the rules for the fight during the last five minutes of a match. Probably the KHL managed to preserve the fighting aspect, which can't be erased from the game, without fully allowing it and leaving the fighters unpunished. It's probably a good compromise, but before of any judgement it's better to see how it works out after a few months of play.

Alexander Ovechkin won the Valeri Kharlamov Trophy awarded by Sovietskiy Sport to the best Russian player in the NHL.

It's the fifth consecutive win for the Washington Capitals' superstar.

"I'm very happy to get the trophy named after Kharlamov for the fifth time. Deserved or not deserved, I've got it and I'm glad that the NHL guys voted for me. Now I've got to try to win it for the sixth time", said Ovechkin after the ceremony.

"It's great that Alexander won the award for the fifth time", added Ovechkin's mom Tatiana. "Valeri Kharlamov was a great player and it's great that Ovechkin won the trophy named after him. It's sad that Kharlamov's father passed away, we miss him."

After his move from Nashville to Russia, Alexander Radulov has been very discreet with the media. But he decided to give an exclusive interview to Mikaël Lalancette of Le Soleil, in which he talked about his controversial move, about his future and about Quebec City.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation.

Russian superstar Ilya Kovalchuk will be back with the New Jersey Devils as he will re-sign with the team. The contract's details will be released during a conference the team will host on Tuesday afternoon.

Kovalchuk is a recent addition by the Devils as they added him to their lineup during the 2010 NHL trade deadline. But the move didn't boost the Devils like expected as they were defeated by the Philadelphia Flyers during the playoffs' first round.

During this year's free agency Ilya Kovalchuk was reported to have refused offers from the Los Angeles Kings, the Atlanta Thrashers and SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL.

Unrestricted free agent Pavol Demitra from Slovakia signed a 1-yr deal with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the KHL.

The 35 years old forward played in the NHL a total of 16 season with the Ottawa Senators, St. Louis Blues, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks, with a total of 848 NHL games, with 768 points.

Lokomotiv is reported to be in talks also with Calgary Flames' Ales Kotalik.

Denis Bodrov signed a 1-yr deal with Spartak Moscow of the KHL. Bodrov, 24, spent part of the last season with the Adirondack Phantoms of the AHL.

After leaving Russia to play within the Philadelphia Flyers system, many were expecting that the NHL franchise would sign a new contract with the defenseman, but it didn't work out and now Bodrov is back in the KHL.

Bodrov, soon to be 24, scored four points (1+3) in 17 games with the Phantoms. He'll play with Spartak with the number 33.

After the announcement of Nabokov's signing with SKA St. Petersburg, Russian popular portal Sport day by day had an interview with agent Sergei Isakov, in which he talked about the negotiating with SKA, about Nabokov's family and about the length of the contract they signed with Alexander Medvedev's team.

RussianHockeyFans.com offers you a translation.

Evgeny Nabokov has signed a 4-year, $24-million contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL, as reported by the Russian newspaper Sovetsky Sport.

In the 10 seasons he played in California he recorded a 293-215-29 record, with a 2.39 goals against average. He also was awarded with the Calder Trophy of the top rookie of the year in 2001.

From RussianProspect.com

Alexander Avtsin and Dynamo Moscow decided to break the player's contract as he wants to try and get a spot with the Canadiens, as reported by Sport-Express.

During the last couple of months there was a lot of speculation around Avtsin's contract as he was under contract with Dynamo, but now he decided to report to North America.

Avtsin, 19, will skate in next week's rookie camp with the Habs, and then will skate in the main team's training camp in late August.

The promising right winger had three goals and six assists with Dynamo last year, but a wrist injury in January prematurely ended his season.

Sergei Gonchar signed a three year, $16.5 million contract with the Ottawa Senators of the NHL. The contract includes a No Movement Clause.

Gonchar, 36, played the latest five years with the Pittsburgh Penguins, winning the 2009 Stanley Cup. The veteran blue liner had 11 goals and 39 assists with Pittsburgh last season.

Recently Gonchar stated that he intends to play until the 2014 Winter Olympics that will be played in Sochi, Russia.

We'll see this fall if adding a world class, puck moving defenseman will increase the Sens' odds in sports betting places.

With the 65th overall pick, the New York Islanders picked Kirill Kabanov (View profile at RussianProspect.com). He's the fourth Russian player to get picked in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft round after Alexander Burmistrov, Vladimir Tarasenko and Evgeny Kuznetsov.

Kirill Kabanov, once thought to be one of the prime candidates for the 2010 Entry Draft #1 overall pick, has experienced a serious downhill fall after his departure to Canada this fall.

According to agent Ilya Moliver, Kabanov's problems are caused by his father.

With the 26th overall pick, the Washington Capitals picked wing Evgeny Kuznetsov (View profile at RussianProspect.com). He's the third player to get picked in the first round after Alexander Burmistrov and Vladimir Tarasenko.

Kuznetsov, 18, has recently signed a new 2 years deal with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL, but most likely the Caps are willing to wait a bit so that he can develop at home.

Evgeny Kuznetsov had a very good rookie season with Traktor, with nine points in 35 games. He also scored once in the playoffs. He skated at both U20 and U18 WJC.