From Larry Brooks of the NY Post:
A previously secret meeting in Italy on Wednesday between Gary Bettman and KHL president Alexander Medvedev not only failed to broker a resolution on Alexander Radulov’s contractual situation, but rather ended with the parties an ocean apart on a working agreement, The Post has learned.
Radulov is the outstanding 22-year-old winger who has signed to play with Ufa of the KHL despite having one year remaining on his contract with Nashville. According to a source familiar with the meeting, when Bettman demanded that Radulov be returned to the Predators, Medvedev refused.
When Bettman threatened legal action, Medvedev essentially invited the commissioner to present his case in Russian court, reminding the commissioner that the NHL success rate in the Russian legal system is equal to the zero-percent success rate of Russian hockey interests in the US court system.
Read the entire story here.
More and more it looks like Radulov is staying in Russia. To be honest, if he was returned to the Predators, I don’t think anyone in that dressing room would want him there anyways.
These sides are nowhere near an agreement and it does not look like one is on the horizon.
The NHL versus the KHL: The battle continues…
