Published: 10 April, 2008, 08:39
Edited: 10 April, 2008, 08:39
Ice hockey chiefs in Russia are predicting the sports new continental league will be a huge success in its first year and may even rival NHL.
Nine months ago, the Continental Hockey League was nothing more than a dream.
But the league has gained large sums from from global companies like Gazprom, providing much needed stability to clubs.
“Stability is the most important thing for us. Before the new league, there were rule changes every year. The first year is more of an experiment, but that's always the case. Now questions concerning transfers, wages and other things are clear for everyone to understand,” Anatoly Badrin, Avangard hockey team general manager, said.
The draw saw the 24 teams from Russia, Belarus, Latvia and Kazakhstan drawn into 4 Divisions, named after the legendry Soviet Hockey players – Tarasov, Kharlamov, Bobrov and Chernynishyov.
The teams were seeded according to their results over the last five years, rather than geography.
“I hope we will see fewer of our stars going off to play in the NHL, rather more top players from across the Atlantic coming to play in our League,” said the president of Dynamo Moscow team Mikhail Golovkov.
Only three clubs from outside Russia signed up for the 2008-2009 season but a number of others are interested.