To And From Russia With Love

A Cold War was diverted today as the NHL reached an agreement with the new Russian hockey league, the Continental Hockey League.

The deal temporarily ends the threat of players being lured away by big money deals from Russian clubs.

The pact to respect player contracts across all borders followed offers made last month by teams in Russia's Continental Hockey League - which begins play in September - to entice Evgeni Malkin out of the final year of his deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It was reached at a meeting of the NHL, the NHL Players' Association and international hockey leagues in Zurich, the home of the International Ice Hockey Federation.

"Everyone in the room agreed that for the foreseeable future everyone will respect everybody's contracts." NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said.

The Continental league, known as the KHL in Russia, will have 24 teams - including one each in neighbouring Belarus and Kazakhstan - that can have five overseas players on a 25-man roster.

I hope there's a team in Kazakhstan and that it is somehow affiliated with Borat. Maybe their mascot can be a bear, or Pamela Andersen.

I just noticed that I've written two stories about Russia in the past two days. Hope nobody thinks I'm some sort of communist sympathizer. Because you know, I certainly do not support that...*nervous laughter*