KHL News and Interviews

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.

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.

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.

Legendary goalkeeper Dominik Hasek signed a one year deal in the KHL with Spartak Moscow.

"I'm happy to be in Moscow. I think that the both sides will benefit from this agreement," said Hasek to Rossiya-2.

His salary is reported to be around $600,000.

"I know what Hasek is capable of. We did not sign a jersey with his name, we signed Hasek himself," said Spartak's head coach Milos Riha to Rossiya-2.

Hasek, 45, has recently won the Czech Extraliga champions title with Pardubice.

The Dominator, who has two Stanley Cups and six Vezina Trophies under his belt, will soon join Spartak in order to prepare for the 2010-11 season.

On June 4th the second ever KHL Entry Draft has been held. With the first overall pick, Sibir Novosibirsk picked forward Dmitry Yashkin, who plays for Slavia Prague in the Czech Republic.

KHL teams choosen a total of 188 players from 13 countries during the seven rounds of the draft. Three selections have been voided as they were players with an NHL contract. They are John Tavares (Lokomotiv Yarloslavl), Philip Larsen (Sibir Novosibirsk) and Mikael Backlund (CSKA Moscow).

Finn defenseman Sami Vatanen went second overall, whith the third selection being Dmitry Ismagilov, picked up by Amur Khabarovsk. Goalie Michael Vishnevetsky was the first North American player picked, by Spartak Moscow.

Teams could use a draft pick and protect their own junior players, and many teams choosed to act this way. Protected players are listed with an asterisk.

On the 31st of May the official Lokomotiv site announced signing for a two-year contract Jori Lehtera, the 22-year old forward from Finland, who lead this past season the SM-League in points.

Today, on the first of June the official site of the St. Lois Blues announced signing Lehtera to an Entry Level Contract.

“Jori had an excellent year this past season as he led the entire Finish League in points,” said Blues' President John Davidson to NHL.com. “Our scouts are very high on him and expect him to be a solid NHL player in the future.”

This signing came just two weeks after the KHL and the NHL signed a Memorandum of Understanding.

According to a sports writer from Finland (@tomppaaax), the Blues signed him to maintain the rights and Lehtera will spend the next two years playing for Lokomotiv.

Habs' prospect Alexei Emelin, 23, declared to Sovietskiy Sport v Tatarstane (via sports.ru) that he'll think about the NHL only next year.

Alexei Emelin: "I'm under contract with Ak Bars Kazan for the next season. I'll think about the NHL next year."

Recently Emelin has been awarded with Best Defenseman of the KHL Finals honor and skated in the 2010 World Championship in Germany.

Russian newspaper Sport-Express is reporting that Dominik Hasek, 45, is close to signing with Spartak Moscow of the KHL.

According to Sport-Express, Hasek has already started training for the next season and will arrive shortly in Moscow to sign a contract. Hasek will be tearing up the KHL next season, that's for sure. Go ahead and place a bet on this in any sportsbook.

"Don't look at his age - Hasek is still one of the best goalies in the World," said Spartak head coach Milos Riha to the newspaper.

During his career in the NHL, Hasek recorded 81 shutouts having a 92.2% saving percentage.

As reported on the official Avangard Omsk's web site, Roman Cervenka signed a two years deal with the KHL team and thus won't sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs of the NHL.

Cervenka is a natural center who oddly enough has never been drafted in the NHL. His strong play in the latest couple of seasons put him under the lights and the Toronto Maple Leafs were thought favorites to sign him by most North American media outlets like ESPN or TSN.

But most likely Roman Cervenka, 24, preferred to play side-to-side with Jaromir Jagr.

During an interview with popular Russian website Sovietskiy Sport Nikita Filatov, currently playing for CSKA and who recently got a call from Russian national team, talked about his future, about NHL players' participation to the Olympics and about the upcoming season.

Nikita Filatov: "I am determined to return to the NHL next year. Surely the salaries are better in the KHL, but overseas the level of play is higher. I'll try to make the first team in the NHL. And I'll try getting on the roster for the World Championships too.

I don't really think that NHL players won't come to Sochi for the 2014 Olympic Games. The best players in the world want to play there. And no one can force them out."