Radulov showing no regrets

[Dabura 12,232]

Russia is flush with multi-billionaires who have money to burn and an overly competitive fire to stoke. We've already seen this in European soccer; Russians have come in and bought out several top British clubs (most notably Roman Abramovich with Chelsea FC), and have started flinging immense and unrealistic amounts of money around. Now they're starting to do the same with hockey. And it's only going to become more prevalent over the next ten years or so.

These are all people who were extremely fortunate and well-placed when the Soviet Union crumbled and took over major oil companies and other newly-available property. They have almost unlimited cash, and Russian sports is starting to become extremely competitive with North American leagues in terms of available money (if not overall talent levels).

It's hugely shady, but it's something that the NHL is going to have to watch out for, even with the recent agreement in place.

It's mostly scattered wealth, though. In other words, there's no ultra-loaded collective bent on making a rival league; it's folks like Zhukova and Abramovich, who'd (probably wisely) rather pump their money into artwork than work towards establishing a professional hockey super-league that could (but, really, couldn't) topple the NHL.

All the NHL risks losing is a moody, underahieving superstar here and there and a couple dozen Mark Hartigans. imo

[Jwo 7]

Translation: Radulov was sick of losing to the Red Wings all of the time.

The kid makes it sound like the NHL runs a human traffic ring.

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

Wow. What a tool. Dare I say, feel pretty bad for Nashville and they need some kind of high pick to offset this garbage.

I thought this kid was going to terrorize us for years to come, then again maybe he wasn't to happy being tied down to the hockey capital of the south.

People are so overanalyzing this and frankly, some are taking it a tad bit too personally.

So what the f*** if he goes back to Russia and who cares if he badmouths the NHL?

He can get paid a hell of alot more money and he can truly be a "star" there instead of a nobody here in the States. And by that I don't mean he's not a talented player. But he ain't AO or Crosby. He ain't even Holmstrom in NHL circles.

Don't forget that these guys are Russian, duh! They may have played over here but they have their own Country and they are going to do and say whatever they feel it is that supports their country.

Me, I'm fine with him leaving so long as it doesn't violate his contract, which I guess is to be determined. I don't begrudge anybody who wants to seek the most money, the best lifestyle, or simply going home to play at home, speak your native language and be happier.

Is it right for him to say the NHL "robs" Europe? Maybe. When you hear stories of players playing in Russia and being secreted away in the middle of the night by NHL team officials and whisked out of their country it could be taken that way. Sergei Fedorov comes to mind. Sure, Feds wanted to come. But he sure took a big shat on his team, his country, his obligations to do it didn't he? Nobody had a problem with what he did to Russia or his team. But people want to give the Preds another ******* draft pick, like "oh, poor Predators". f*** all that and the Preds. They took a guy who had a change of heart. Sorry about your luck Preds.

Let him go, if he violated his contract, let the Russian club and the Preds make a cash compensation deal and be done with it. The kid doesn't want to play for them anyway so best to cut your losses, recoup some cash and move on.

[Dabura 12,232]

Is it right for him to say the NHL "robs" Europe? Maybe.

The thing is, the way he phrased it makes it sound like he's just generally bitter about the fact that the NHL gets all the good European players: "The NHL for 15 years has brought young players from Europe, first and foremost from Russia. I think that it is time to end this. Simply put: (It's) time to stop robbing us." Whether Radulov means it or not, his words basically associate all European expatriation to the NHL with "robbery." Because of this, he comes off like a whiny little *****.

Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, Rads. The Wings will miss owning you.

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

The thing is, the way he phrased it makes it sound like he's just generally bitter about the fact that the NHL gets all the good European players: "The NHL for 15 years has brought young players from Europe, first and foremost from Russia. I think that it is time to end this. Simply put: (It's) time to stop robbing us." Whether Radulov means it or not, his words basically associate all European expatriation to the NHL with "robbery." Because of this, he comes off like a whiny little *****.

Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, Rads. The Wings will miss owning you.

Oh, I definitely understand that. I just think there's room for interpretation, especially considering he's Russian. I don't know how "Americanized" he had become. I don't even know how good his English is. Perhaps he was speaking in the only terms he understood and maybe didn't mean it to sound that way. Or maybe he did. My point is that why do we really care? We know that the players coming over here wanted to come over here. So why get bent out of shape b/c of what he said? Whether he meant it literally or not we know it isn't true so no big deal. Plus, who is going to read that and care? Its not like its an NHL black eye or something b/c Rads said it. No mainstream media or sports media cares about the NHL here to make this news outside of anywhere that isn't an NHL forum for rabid fans or the NHL brass. It's a non-issue and non-news what Radulov has to say. He's nobody.

Now, players deciding to leave the NHL, that could be a big issue. Personally, it's not for me. Pav is my favorite player but if he left tomorrow (no contract issues of course) I wouldn't be pissed at him nor would I cry about any exodus of European's going back to their native country. That's the way the cookie crumbles and barring any obligations to their current NHL teams, we as fans have no right to pass judgment nor do we have any right to keep players here that don't want to be here.

My bet is nobody here really knows what its like to leave home, go to another place where they speak a different language and have the added pressure of being a professional athlete with gobs of money on the table. If Pav, Z and the others left tomorrow so be it. Somebody else would step into their spot and life goes on. Now, if the exodus only happened to the Wings and wasn't league-wide. Then GS&T would be crying in his beer.