Who Are Those Guys?

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Who are those guys? — Butch Cassidy to the Sundance Kid

The NHL might be asking this same question about the KHL, "who are those guys?"

The KHL, or Kontinental Hockey League, with teams from Russia, Belarus, Latvia and Kazakhstan is giving the NHL fits.

The Butch Cassidy quote seemed apropos after seeing part of the Slapshot title this afternoon:

...Did the NHL Rob the KHL Again?

Are Gary "Sundance" Bettman and his NHL "Hole in the Wall Gang" robbing the KHL blind of its best players? And is the KHL going to posse-up and come after the NHL? Stu at Slapshot had this latest on the war:

There are also fresh developments in NHL-KHL relations.

KHL President Alexander Medvedev, who said last week the KHL would end its unilateral moratorium (new link) on signing NHL players who are under contract, has issued a moratorium on ending the moratorium.

The announcement last week on ending the moratorium was precipitated by the Kings’ signing of two prospects who the KHL claimed were still under contract (a move, btw, that one of our favorite hockey bloggers, twolinepass, felt was unnecessary and provocative), so for a couple of seconds, it was open season on NHL players — although we wonder how long the line was to sign KHL contracts.

But for the moment, Medvedev is holding his horses, saying (as quoted in Sports-Express.ru), “Until September 6, I recommend that our clubs not do this because first I would like to consult with the leadership of the International Ice Hockey Federation,” which is a wise move.

So war has been postponed — at least for a few days. Can it be averted? We’ll see..

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Slapshot also had this from over the weekend, on the war:
N.H.L., K.H.L. — The War Is On

If you Google NHL + KHL +War, back comes over 20,000 pages. Something big in terms of East-West hockey relations will happen soon. The NHL can't move to Bolivia like Butch and Sundance, so when will we have the big shootout?

ICINGS:

Here is an interesting Google map showing where the KHL teams are located.

update:
The "All Seeing" Yahoo Puck Daddy gave the Ranger Pundit a Hat-tip. If we skate harder maybe we can earn the hat trick. His note about Ice Girls and spandex will send us into the corner to chase that puck.

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