Lindberg Cheese
Registered User
Better airplanes and defibrillatorsThe Russian Factor is way, way overblown. The salary cap for the KHL is less than 1/4 of the NHL's salary cap.
And sure, Kovalchuk was making $5.5M tax-free, but he's that league's highest paid player, and the salaries quickly ramp down from there. Only 30 players in that league even make above $1M per year. For the vast majority of players, the NHL represents an opportunity to make far more, and live a far better lifestyle than in Russia. Better accommodations, better facilities, and better training staff and doctors.