We'll agree to disagree. If he tells the Preds he has decided that he no longer wants to live in North America, that he wants to live, play and be with his family for the rest of his life in Russia, what can they do? He can find a way to break his NHL contract, through lawyers if need be. I know it was long ago but Radulov did, and then when all was forgotten and forgiven, he returned to North America and eventually signed for significant money.
I think if you followed Askarov and his journey, you'd get the sense that moving back to Russia is not likely his motivation here. But for sure, if that was his angle, we would be seeing a mutual contract termination, and away he would go. That's not what's happening here. He wants to play in the NHL. Just he wants it sooner than he has earned.
The Rusians don't care about any NHL/KHL agreement, do you think they care when they are banned from all International events by the IIHF, World Juniors, IOC and the NHL? The NHL is not even making a Russian team for the In-Season International Cup this year, a pure slap in the face to Putin and the Russians.
I disagree, the Russians do care. They don't want the NHL poaching their young talent anymore than the NHL wants the KHL to poach theirs. That's why a truce has been maintained. If the new split between the Federation and KHL has opened up the chance of NHL teams to buyout KHL contracts by giving money directly to KHL teams more openly than before, that's one thing, but it doesn't change the overall truce and mutual honoring of contracts. Now, that truce could be broken at any time, and maybe as a Russian agent Millstein has some vested interest in trying to catalyze that kind of war? But if it did happen with Askarov, it would very much be a new thing, and probably not in the best interests of either league.
And the comments by
@Porter Stoutheart that KHL teams won't value or want him, have you seen the top goalies in the KHL, Zach Fucale and a whole bunch of nobodies are top ten:
KHL Goalie Stats 2023-2024
But Zach Fucale made around $600,000 last year. My point is not that Askarov simply wouldn't have a place. I don't know if St.Petersburg retains his rights or not, but whether they do or don't, a place would be found for him. That said, the Russian pipeline is stocked very well with goaltenders. The last few NHL drafts will illustrate that. Askarov still hasn't proven anything in the KHL, and he did not leave as an established KHL goaltender by any stretch (in fact, he partially left because he couldn't get playing time there). There is nothing at the moment that would make Askarov stand out as a player who would earn a special level of salary. The top KHL players get something like maybe $1-1.5M these days. Askarov would not enter in that category, he'd more likely be in that $500,000 range.
Now granted, there are other perks and bonuses available in the KHL beyond just the base salary. Plus a dramatically lower tax rate (around 13% as opposed to 40%ish here). And depending on what city he lived in (not Moscow or St.Petersburg though!) there could be cost of living differences that also played a role when comparing salaries.
But all that is to say, he would not be getting some HUGE financial windfall by switching to the KHL. In the immediate term, he'd get more than the $300k or so that he'd probably have made (before taxes!) in Milwaukee this season. Well, he has already pocketed $92,500 of that. If he refuses to report, he'll get 0 the rest of this season. It sounds like the Preds would be able to toll his contract under suspension too, so maybe he's really stuck at zero in North America and completely unable to move without a termination, however. But if he had just played out this season and finished out his ELC, he'd very quickly be in line for a bigger payday in North America starting in 2025-26 than he'd ever get in Russia.
Anyway, I just don't think the Russia part of the equation is a significant factor in what's going on here. Askarov wants to play in the NHL, and he wants to do it NOW, and he wants to do it for a team which doesn't have a #1 goalie signed for 9 more seasons. That's the real motivation here IMO.