European Defensemen

Fatherhab · Senior Member

European Defensemen

barry33 · Guru

Fatherhab wrote:

Just curious about some of the Habs draft picks from Europe...........especially Alexei Emelin. He was the Habs 2nd pick back in 2004. Is he coming this way? This year we chose another Russian defenseman Pavel Valentenko as well. We could use one of these guys. We need to get some of these guys into our minor league system or what is the point in drafting them?

From what I understand, Emelin is still stuck in that whole Russian exchange thing and his coming over hinges on it being resolved.

rwp2le · Guru

They are also saying that they are looking at Valentenko to be the sleeper pick of the draft. He is a large mobile defenseman, who knows what he will turn out like.

barry33 · Guru

rwp2le wrote:

They are also saying that they are looking at Valentenko to be the sleeper pick of the draft. He is a large mobile defenseman, who knows what he will turn out like.

Geesh Ripple..do we not have enough "Sleepers" already?

rwp2le · Guru

Tell me about it. Just relaying what I have heard.

rwp2le · Guru

Sorry, posted the same thing twice, the board is giving me a bit of a problem.

-- Edited by rwp2le at 09:04, 2006-08-08

Fatherhab · Senior Member

Tks for the input, I did a little research on this NHL/Russian Federation agreement thingie, and this is the best explanation I could find.

MOSCOW -- Russia will not sign a transfer agreement with the National Hockey League just weeks after ratifying the deal, the country's ice hockey chief said on Wednesday.

Vladislav Tretyak, president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (RIHF), said the proposed agreement was not in the best interest of Russian clubs.

"We have been in constant negotiation with the NHL, trying to reach a fair deal, but unfortunately we were unable to fully take into account the interests of Russian clubs," said Tretyak.

Russia remained the only major hockey power not to sign the deal, which was approved by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) last year.

The Russians were expected to put pen to paper after RIHF's executive board voted unanimously to approve the deal in June.

Tretyak has pushed hard for his country to join a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the NHL since being elected RIHF president in April.

But many top Russian clubs want to negotiate their own deals directly with their North American counterparts.

IIHF president Rene Fasel has warned Russia that if they continued the stand-off they would risk participation of their NHL players in world championship or Olympic competition.

"There is a danger that if we do not find an agreement with [NHL commissioner] Gary Bettman, Russian players will not be allowed to play in Russia next year," Fasel told reporters at May's world championship in Riga.

Under the new CBA, the NHL and NHL Players' Association can prevent a player from taking part in a world championship without a transfer agreement in place.

plouf · Guru

Vladislav Tretiak. Heard about him twice in two weeks (goalie debate) on this board, for the first time in years.

Man, he was a GREAT goalie. I remember watching the "challenge cup" (was that the name of it? it was a best of 3) in 1979, and I think Tretiak started two of the games and just stonewalled our guys. Dryden (I think it was Dryden, my memory is failing me on this one) didn't do so well. That was probably the worst we ever did against the Soviets, that series. Maybe it was the height of CCCP hockey right there, around '79 or so.

I wonder if anybody else remembers details from that series. I remember watching the games, but they're fading fast.

heet_150 · Guru

plouf wrote:

I wonder if anybody else remembers details from that series. I remember watching the games, but they're fading fast.

I remember Dryden getting shelled in an afternoon game. He was pulled and replaced by Gerry Cheevers. I was fit to be tied.

Didn't the Habs have Tretiak signed, but the Soviets wouldn't allow him to go at one point?

When playing road hockey, if someone else had already called Dryen when I went in net, I always called Tretiak.

Fatherhab · Senior Member

Has Malkin opened the Flood Gates

chelii chilli · Member

RE: European Defensemen