Russians and Belarusians are largely excluded from international sports, but the situation is different in series activities. There are at least 50 Russian players in the NHL.
Russians and Belarusians are largely excluded from international sports, so the national teams of Russia and Belarus have no business in ice hockey competitions or national team tournaments.
In serial operations, the situation is different. The players are employees of the clubs.
In many leagues, the Russians’ employment opportunities weakened after the war started, but in the NHL, the Russians’ position is still solid. According to the league’s website, last season 61 Russians pucked on the ice in the regular season. The number increased from the 2021–22 season by four.
The rise has continued for a long time. In the 2019–20 season, 50 Russians recorded at least one regular season match, and 52 in the following season.
The number of Russian players in the regular season starting next week can only be estimated. by EliteProspects between September and October, 50 Russians were part of the lineups of NHL clubs, but the number will increase when, for example, players from the farm league AHL are brought up.
The day of reckoning is coming
Statistic said that two Russians will be among the ten highest-paid NHL players in 2023: Kirill Kaprizov and Alexander Ovechkin. Sporting News named the 25 highest-paid players for the 2023-24 season Artemi Panarin, Sergei BobrovskyOvechkin, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Nikita Kucherov.
It is difficult to assess the effects of the war on the salary development of Russian NHL players, because the sample is short.
Only among the ten most effective Russian players last season Yevgeni Malkin, Andrei Kuzmenko and Mikhail Sergachev as well as the five Russian goalkeepers with the most saves Alexander Georgiev and Ilya Samsonov have made an agreement during the war.
CapFriendly according to both goalkeepers’ contracts are considerably more generous than the previous ones. Good game performances have been rewarded with the most lucrative contracts of my career so far.
Only Malkin’s contract has been financially weaker than the previous one, but the player of his age has passed his best playing years.
There are enough Russians in the NHL, but the number of Russian bookings has decreased.
In 2021, 29 Russians were still eligible for NHL clubs, but in 2022 the number dropped to 25 and this year to 19, which is the lowest number of Russian bookings for Matali since 2016. At that time, only 17 were eligible.
None of the Russian reservations for 2021 and 2022 have played in the NHL, but there are enough of them in the North American farm and junior leagues.