The United States and Russia aren’t exactly on good terms. Fortunately, those hostilities haven’t trickled down to the relationship between the NHL and the KHL. As seen in a report via Pro Hockey Talk, the two leagues have agreed to extend their memorandum of understanding which honors contracts players have signed in either league.
The extension of the Memorandum of Understanding between the National Hockey League (NHL) and the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) is particularly important in view of the current global political situation, KHL President Alexander Medvedev said on Thursday.
An agreement to extend for one more year the Memorandum of Understanding, which stipulates respect for contracts of professional players from the both Leagues, was signed on Thursday prolonging it until June 30, 2015. The memorandum is primarily aimed at resolution of disputable situations in case of players’ transfer from the one league to the other.
The extended agreement only lasts through 2015, but it’s nice to see both leagues working together. The agreement prevents a player from ditching his current contract in favor of a more lucrative one abroad.
As is, the agreement has worked fairly well. For the most part, players have fulfilled their contracts before making the jump either to the NHL or the KHL. You could make the argument that this sort of deal isn’t really needed given the financial stability of the NHL and the craziness which can be the KHL, but you’d still run the risk of players abandoning contracts should they believe they could find a larger one abroad.
