Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League began its 16th season on Friday, and along with it came the usual collection of storylines for interested fans to follow. But there was one KHL storyline that quickly pushed all the others to one side, and it did so the moment that 26-year-old Ivan Dmitrievich Fedotov skated out to guard the CSKA Moscow net in their season-opener against Ak Bars Kazan. That simple little lineup decision by CSKA – an obvious one, if we consider only the on-ice aspects of it – has fanned into open flame a dispute that had been smoldering for some time, involving the IIHF, the Russian Hockey Federation, and NHL, and of course the KHL itself.
Most hockey fans will have heard at least something of the Ivan Fedotov saga, of course, but a quick recap is in order. Fedotov, fresh off backstopping CSKA to the Gagarin Cup, signed a one-year deal with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers in the spring of 2022. But shortly thereafter, he was arrested for illegally dodging his mandatory year of service in the Russian military, and he spent the 2022-23 hockey season serving in the navy in Severomorsk. And the current troubles really began when Fedotov, having completed his military year, signed this past spring with CSKA. The Flyers, who feel that they are still owed a year of play from Fedotov, appealed to the International Ice Hockey Federation. The IIHF ruled in Philadelphia’s favour, banning CSKA from signing players from leagues outside of Russia for one year, and suspending Fedotov himself from KHL play for four months beginning September 1st.
To that point, what we had amounted to little more than a serious contract dispute and some questions about the status of the NHL-KHL agreement on respecting each other’s contracts – something for the various organizations’ lawyers to hash out. CSKA and the KHL announced an appeal of the IIHF verdict, while the Russian Hockey Federation (the FHR) took the moderate line, supporting CSKA’s appeal while insisting that in the meantime the IIHF’s decision needed to be respected. But the KHL’s disregard of the IIHF’s ruling has now taken the dispute to a new level, and we wait to see what the IIHF will do about it. So far, all that has happened is that the world body has fined the Russian Hockey Federation a modest amount (5000 Swiss francs, or about $7500 Canadian) and opened disciplinary proceedings against Fedotov himself for playing without a valid contract.
The Russian Hockey Federation has made no statement whatsoever about Fedotov’s appearance for CSKA in Friday’s game, which in itself is a bit odd (CSKA President Igor Yesmantovich claimed that the FHR supports Fedotov’s right to play). KHL President Alexei Morozov stated that the Russian Prosecutor General’s office had backed Fedotov’s inclusion in the CSKA lineup, and that obeying the IIHF suspension would violate the goalie’s right to work under Russian law.
The KHL has furthermore given itself an “out” in this situation through an interestingly-timed change to its own regulations. On August 31st, one day before Fedotov played that crucial game, the KHL amended Article 14 of its Disciplinary Regulations to allow the league’s President to “stay” any suspension issued to a player by the IIHF while that punishment is being appealed. This rule, in other words, directly contradicts section II.1.7 of the IIHF’s rules on international transfers, which states specifically that suspensions like the one handed out to Fedotov will NOT be stayed while being appealed.
We will see what comes of this situation, but the problem for the IIHF is that it is somewhat limited in the measures it can bring to bear against Fedotov, CSKA, the KHL, the FHR, or all of the above. In fact, under Section II.3.5 of the IIHF’s regulations on international transfers, it cannot sanction the KHL at all, at least not directly (IIHF President Luc Tardif seemed to confirm that in comments today). CSKA are already banned from international transfers for one year for inducing a breach of Fedotov’s contract with Philadelphia, and that could be increased to two for his having played for the Moscow club without a valid transfer. The Russian Hockey Federation was automatically fined 5000 Swiss francs (about $7500 Canadian) when Fedotov played his first regular-season game for CSKA, and can be fined between 5000 and 150,000 francs per game that he plays thereafter. Fedotov himself can be suspended from IIHF competitions for one to three years, but since Russia is already excluded from those competitions, and that exclusion is unlikely to end in the next couple of years, such a punishment would be entirely symbolic. The world body’s best bet (short of sitting down with the various interested parties and negotiating a solution, of course) may be to hope that the near-daily fines bring the Russian Hockey Federation back in line without causing it to withdraw from the IIHF entirely.
Perhaps the most ominous element of this situation, for the IIHF and indeed for the current model of international hockey, is the fact that the Russian Hockey Federation was either unwilling or unable to get CSKA and the KHL to abide by the IIHF’s ruling. In stark contrast to North America, where the NHL reigns supreme with the international game sitting a very distant second at best, Russia and the Soviet Union before it always directed their national hockey efforts towards the World Championships and the Olympics (a reminder here that the KHL used to take a month-long break for the Olympics, and always ended its seasons, including playoffs, in plenty of time to prepare for the World Championships each May). And Russia enjoyed a particularly cordial relationship with the IIHF during the tenure of Luc Tardif’s predecessor as President, René Fasel (Fasel, in fact, is now employed by the KHL, advising their department of officiating).
But that seems to be changing, and Ivan Fedotov’s presence in the CSKA Moscow lineup suggests that the KHL, like the NHL, no longer views the IIHF as worthy of much deference. That and the FHR’s silence on the issue, furthermore, both indicate strongly that the Russian hockey establishment sees little hope of being readmitted to the international fold any time soon or on any kind of acceptable terms, and believes furthermore that there is no point in continuing to pretend otherwise. It is clear that the KHL, in any case, is no longer willing to subjugate its own hockey to interests of the international game, at least under the current circumstances. And further significant changes may very well be afoot — we shall see.
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There is more to come on this story, obviously, and we’ll keep you updated here at Two Guys and Hockey Talk as events warrant it. But the Fedotov situation is not the only very interesting and significant thing going on in Russian hockey this fall, and we’ll explore some of the other ones as the autumn rolls along.
