To Russia for money

NHL, Canes GM irked by players who break contracts

When the Nashville Predators play the Carolina Hurricanes today, both teams will be missing a player they expected to have this season.

Alexander Radulov and Matt Murley both broke their NHL contracts to play in Russia for more money in the Continental Hockey League, or KHL.

Radulov, the Preds' first-round pick in the 2004 draft, sent shock waves through the NHL when he left for Russia in July. He scored 26 goals and 32 assists last season and had a year left in his entry-level contract.

The Predators refused to comment for this story.

But Carolina Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford wasn't shy about talking about forward Matt Murley, who left the Albany River Rats (the Hurricanes' American Hockey League affiliate) in early October, a month after signing a one-year deal with the Canes.The Montreal Canadiens' Pavel Valentenko did the same at the end of October.

"It doesn't seem right when a guy signs a contract and then a month later decides to leave," Rutherford said.

While Radulov is a bigger loss than Murley, who has played scant NHL minutes in three seasons, the Canes, hit with injuries, would have used Murley by now.

Players have long switched back and forth between the NHL and European leagues, but that isn't the issue, Rutherford said.

"If a player goes in the offseason, when he doesn't have a contract, whether they go that way or they come this way, it seems to be fair," Rutherford said.

Canes goalie Michael Leighton considered a move to Europe before the Canes offered him his first one-way deal this summer.

"If I wasn't in the NHL, then I would take that kind of offer," said Leighton, who said he was looking out for his family.

If Murley, a New York native, wants back, it may not be easy.

"Can you really trust a player, what he's going to do, when he does that," Rutherford said. "You lose credibility."

The Washington Capitals' Alexander Semin left in mid-contract in 2004, and returned two years later. Semin had 74 goals the last two years. Star power may bring something to reconciliation.

Rutherford said the NHL is doing what it can to deal with the problem, "but it's a difficult one."

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said via e-mail: "We are working with the NHL [Players Association] and the IIHF and its member federations (other than than Russia) to discourage and sanction actions in disregard of existing contractual obligations."

Because of complicated regulations, the International Ice Hockey Federation is poised to make a decision in the Murley case as soon as next week, but can't with Radulov and Valentenko, said Szymon Szemberg, communications director for the IIHF, reached by phone in Switzerland.

"Even though in principle, we feel it's incorrect not to honor a contract, there's nothing in our statutes and bylaws that can make us rule against those signings," Szemberg said.

Szemberg said an economic crisis in Russia is affecting teams' ability to pay the high salaries that have lured the likes of Radulov.

He said it will take an agreement between the NHL and the KHL to resolve the issue, which the sides tried to work out this summer. What, if anything, was actually agreed upon in that meeting is a matter of dispute between both leagues and the NHLPA.