sibiriak

Zubov(if he returns to good form), A. Markov, Gonchar (remember last p/offs? he was pretty good defensively), Tyutin and Volchenkov are all legitimate first-rate defensemen, who also happen to be good offensively. Like certain Niklas Lidstrom, kind of. Or would you not consider him a defensive defenseman as well as an offensive D-man? Add to that Babchuk, Grebeshkov and some KHL guys, and this Russian D group is pretty good. As good or better than any other country, except Canada, but the gap there is not wide at all.

So Ovechkin should only be making $4.8 mil. with his measly 110 points? The salaries grow exponentially, not in a linear fashion, as you move to a higher caliber player. Wellwood will make $1.2 mil./27 pts = $44,444 per point. Ovechkin makes $9 mil./110 pts = $81,818 per pt. Assuming the same exponential progression, Hudler should make about $62,666 per point which works out to be $3.57 mil. per year. Not that I think the salaries actually conform to any such rigid mathematical rule.

I don't remember about Heatley's time in Atlanta, but Hossa usually played with Slava Kozlov on Atlanta's 2nd line, with Kovalchuk on the 1st line. Even on PP.

stuff you, mister. Like there never has been a non-Russian hockey player who chose to earn a lot of money on a bottom-tier team. In fact, by your logic, why would any (Non-Russian) player ever play for a tem like that. And yet, Atlanta, Phoenix, Florida etrc. manage to ice 20 skaters (not 100% of them Russian) every night. As to this article, I read the Russian article, that was mistranslated here, and it was a pure speculation on what it might take to keep Kovalchuk in Atlanta by some writer. So you owe an apology to Kovy, if not all Russian NHLers whose character you impuned.

Of course. I've been in the States for too long, and have my NATO and Russian calibers all mixed up.

"Amur" of the KHL is 9 time zones away from Moscow, Moscow is 2 more time zones away from Prague or Stockholm or Berlin and is as far away as 3 time zones from London. Talk abouit road trip from hell! The whole "Kontinental" part of the KHL name is purely wishfull thinking on the part of Russian hockey bigwigs. The KHL doesn't earn 20% of its expenses back, and without the massive sponsorship money of the big quasi-state Russian companies would be going nowhere. Until KHL becomes at least a break-even enterprise on its own, the NHL has nothing to worry about except occasional player poaching. No Swedish or Czech or German or Swiss club could possibly pay their players enough to compete on even terms with the "Gazprom" supported league. So they wouldn't be able to financially compete in the KHL. BTW, the "Eurasia line" goes through Ural mountains in the middle of Russia, not along the Russian western border.

The "funny little notch/twist " is a muzzle brake, and one of the reasons why AKM has much better accuracy than an AK-47. They both have a tendency to rise up and to the right, when on full auto. Muzzle brake partially counteracts that tendency for the AKM. Still, if you just squeeze and hold the trigger, only the first couple of shots are going to go anywhere near the intended direction. I don't really know much about the quality of the East European AKs. The Czechs make good guns, I think, but its their own models, not AK replicas.

We had AKM. That's 7.62 mm like AK-47 but is a newer 1960s version. AK-74 uses 5.56 mm ammo and is supposed to be little less accurate than the AKM, especially at extreme ranges. If you use short 2 or 3-round bursts, the grouping improves, but it's not easy to do. P.S. Polish AK??? At least it wasn't Chinese...

A basic Russian Army infantry shooting proficiency test includes hitting a full-height target at 300 meters with an AK from prone position. A couple of guys in my platoon could hit a chest-high target at 150 m. shooting from the hip. Theoretical effective range of an AK is 400 m. So in trained hands it is sufficient for any battlefield. One rarely sees an enemy at a distance of more than 400 m. anyway.

For a 22-men roster, I count 22 hearts for Canada, just like for any other team. Depth doesn't come into it, because you can't substitute new players in, as the tourrnament progresses. You gotta go with the same 22 guys you started with. And Canada's skill is not superior to Sweden or russia's top-22 squad. And the home ice can be a burden as well as help. Imagine the pressure, the media relentlessly hounding team Canada's players and coaches... In fact, has Canada even won a home Olympics or Worlds since WWII?

And what do you base this opinion on? I could say that nobody could beat Russia in a best of 7 series, with as much (meaning none) grounds for that opinion.

2 questions: Does the "world" include Canada? Define "better". If I tell you of players who never played in the NHL and who you probably never heard of, how can you judge if they are "better" than the 5 Canadian greats you listed? Just for the fun of it, from Russia only - players who I regard as being just as good as the ones you listed: Kharlamov, Bobrov, Mikhailov, Fetisov, Larionov, Vasiliev, Firsov, Loktev, Aleksandrov, Ragulin, Tretiak, Yakushev, S. Makarov. (EDIT How could I forget Alexander Maltsev!) Remember, I'm talking about their whole careers, not just the NHL part.

Ovechkin played that tournament with a hurt shoulder. In the Canada game he hurt it again. Which is why he wasn't as effective as he could have been. And that was years ago. You'd do better to form your impression of OV's current game on his play in the NHL. 2 Harts and Lester Pearsons and Richards in a row. Tell me, do you remember any NHL D-man, Canadian or otherwise, being able to take it to Ovechkin physically recently? No? I didn't think so. Were big bad Flyers able to phusically intimidate Malkin this year? How about the Ducks vs Datsyuk? Sorry friend, if Canada is gonna beat Russia, you are going to have to be better in all aspects of hockey. Simple physical intimidation ain't gonna do it.

This depends on what kind of team Canada's management decides to go with. In the past OG, they didn't go with NHL-type "top 6, bottom 6" model. They went either with "top 12" or "top 9 with some PK specialists". So far it seems that Canada is going with 4 scoring lines who will get roughly equal icetime. Which means that OV, Malkin and Kovi won't necessarily be matched with a checking line. That favors Russia. More likely, a D-pairing will be matched up to whatever line happens to bes the most dangerous for Russia. We'll see how Canadian D does. I can't wait for the Olympics to start!

The 4th best Canadian D-man could also be the top D-man for team Canada. Yes Canada has better depth and can probably field two equally strong teams. The question is, would either of them be stronger then the Russian team? (the only one we'll put on the ice ) OV, Malkin, Kovalchuck can decide games. Canada has excellent, excellent forwards but not quite as good as those. That's all I'm saying. And I agree that Canadian G (Luongo, as Brodeur's age is bound to catch up with him some time) is better than Khabibullin or Nabokov over 82 game season. Question is, can Russian goalie be better for a few games in a row? I hope - yes. And that may be enough for us to win.

I'll grant you that canada has better D and G than Russia, if only slightly. The depth here would benefit Canada more because an injury to a couple of Russian top D might not be easy to fill in for. On forward side, Russia IMHO has a noticeable edge, especially in top 6. Malkin, Datsyuk, with 2 of S.Fedorov/Vic. Kozlov/Zinoviev/Yashin/some others in the middle, OV, Semin, Kovalchuk, Frolov, Morozov, Zaripov, Filatov, Samsonov etc. on wing represent a very potent offensive group. If Russia can get "good enough" goaltending performance out of Nabokov or Bryzgalov or Khabibullin, or even Varlamov, they will have a decent shot on beating anybody, including Canada. And having home ice is a double edge sword, remember Quebec WCH?

Would you care to enlighten me, how a $3 mil. contract is not a problem, when only $1.8 mil in cap space is available? EDIT - And trading Lilja for picks and signing 2 league min. forwards along with a $3 mil. player to fill out the roster end in being over the cap, sorry.

Detroit made Hudler a qualifying offer (a mandatory10% raise) in order to keep his rights. If they didn't, Hudler would've become a UFA. Noone thought that Hudler's actual contract after arbitration/new deal would actually be that low, Holland included. Somewhere between 2.5-3.5 mil was expected . And the Wings only have 1.8 mil. in cap space, so to sign Hudler to realistic money some space would've needed to be cleared. Hence, anyone else signing for "Hudler money" presents the same problem: not enough cap space.

Thank you for reminding me about OV, He did have status equivalent to an RFA in Russia, when Washington sugned him. This should complicate NHL's case nicely . I'm not sure I understand your point about Malkin being before Radulov. There's no precedent law here. The relationship between leagues is technically a relationship between two business structures in different countries, and such conflicts are traditionally resolved by applying the laws of the country that has jurisdiction in each case, unless there's an international or bilateral agreement that applies.

Hudler didn't sign anything with any NHL team. What's next? Treating him buying a Prague-NY plane ticket as an "Intent to sign an NHL contract"? Remember when Malkin had actually signed a contract with Magnitogorsk, and everyone on this side of the Atlantic was saying that he didn't want to sign with Magnitogorsk and should be free to sign with Pittburgh? Why don't they just slap a brand on Hudler's back and declare him property of the NHL til death? C'mon. I just hope that the NHL and the KHL will come to a civilized agreement, that works the same both ways. If a palyer signed a contract with a team, he can't sign with another team (either league) unless his right-holder agrees, having been properly compensated. If a player is an RFA in either league, appropriate compensation mechanism should exist to transfer of his rights, if desired.

Which is why the rumoured contract would be front-loaded. Get most of the money early, before stuff can happen.

Holland must be a master in messing with players/agents heads. Looking at it objectively, Leino is virtually guaranteed to play most of the season with the Wings, be it on 1 or 2 way contract. Given that the Wings need to cover 4 forward roster spots, who else would they call up? Instead, likely playing on Leino's insecurity, Holland got him to accept less in return for one-way contract in exchange for something Leino would have most likely gotten anyway. Scary.

The salary amount can't be right. Just to retain Leino's RFA rights, Detroit was obliged to offer 5% raise. Why would Leino not accept that offer instead of signing for less?

Have you ever seen a KHL game, or are you basing your comments just on a general prejudice?

I can't see how Holland could possibly fit Hudler and Leino under the cap, if Hudler gets more than $2 mil. I played with the Cap Calculator till I was blue in the face, and even a minimal 20-man roster comes out over the cap, unless one of the already signed players is traded and replaced with someone making no more than $0.5 mil. What is the point of signing Hudler if it means losing another regular?