Evgeni Malkin goes missing

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Another twist in the bizarre Evgeni Malkin story, he has disappeared from his Russian club Metallurg Magnitogorsk while the team was training in Finland, reportedly taking his belongings and passport with him. Malkin was drafted 2nd overall right behind phenom Alexander Ovechkin in 2004, and is widely thought of as the best player in the world not currently in the NHL. Russia has not signed the International Ice Hockey Federation transfer agreement, and has basically wanted NHL teams to negotiate transfer fees in a soccer-style system.

Malkin has stated he wants to play in North America but his team would not let him go, and was essentially being forced to stay in Russia because of the lack of a transfer agreement. So apparently he waited until his team travelled to foreign soil and then snuck out of the country, presumably headed to North America on his own, similar to what a couple former NHL players did in the Cold War era. Interesting to say the least.

http://www.sportsline.com/nhl/story/9598650

 

[Kel Varnsen]

I hope they find him in Pittsburgh.

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

Under Russian law, an employee is allowed to leave any job even if under contract as long as the employee gives a two-week notice, and Malkin has reportedly just done that with his club. Nobody is saying exactly where he is, except for that he's safe and in the US somewhere. Strangely enough, his parents a few days ago said that they had no idea where he was and that he wouldn't answer their calls to his cell phone. Metallurg is probably going to take this to the courts, but I don't see why they think Malkin is worth a couple million in damages to them. They play in front of only a few thousand fans every night in the RSL in the first place, how much economic damage could Malkin leaving have on the team?

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=174392&hubname=nhl

 

[coyoteshockeyfan]

I thought this was rather amusing, here is what Metallurg's GM Gennady Velichkin had to say on 8/24/05:
"No one is going to hinder Malkin to leave. Even this year no one prohibited him to go. If he’d bought an airplane ticket to America, than who would stop him?"
http://www.rushockey.com/events.php?i=sl&stream=sl_interviews&id=289

Compared to what he said Wednesday:
"They all like to talk about democracy, the American way and then they shamelessly steal our best players. This is pure sports terrorism."
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_465935.html

So there you have it, having a kid disappear on his team and then exercise his apparent rights under Russian law is actually America comitting "sports terrorism."
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica][/FONT]