There will be no more games in Tre Kronor for Adam Almquist.
Now reveals the reason why the defender chose to continue playing in the KHL.
– He wanted to play in Sweden, says agent Aljosa Pilko.
Tre Kronor announced last week that it will no longer welcome Swedish players in the KHL going forward. There were then six Swedes who were completely ready to play in the league for the coming season, but soon they would have company.
That’s why it became the KHL
Adam Almquist played in the KHL last year, but was rumored after the Olympics to want to break his contract with Dinamo Minsk. Last week it became clear that it will instead be continued in Traktor Chelyabinsk. The choice has been severely cut in hockey Sweden, and it thus destroys his chances of playing for the national team in the future.
So how come he made the choice to stay in the league? According to agent Aljosa Pilko, he had no choice.
– He had a two-year contract with Minsk before, the buyout cost was too high and he doesn’t have that money. Adam had handcuffs around his hands, to not play hockey for two years, he tells HockeyNews.
“Wanted to go home to Sweden”
What happened was that Almquist wanted to break his contract, but then had to release himself from the contract. He – or any Swedish clubs – could not afford that.
– Adam wanted to go home to Sweden. And to every single Swedish club I called, I told them that half a million dollars is needed, says Pilko.
Almquist thus ended up in a situation where he had had to sit at home and wait out the contract for two years, or play hockey in a club that was prepared to take over the contract, which Traktor was.
– Dinamo Minsk’s General Manager accommodated Adam’s request in the end. That request was not to have to sit at home for two years, says Pilko.
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