Business As Usual?

It occurred to me today that yesterday's article that talked of the IIHF condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Belarus' support of the invasion may have effects on those countries' current involvement in the KHL. If you hadn't heard, Finnish club Jokerit announced that they were going to skip the KHL playoffs in protest of the invasion of Ukraine, and Latvian club Dinamo Riga announced they too were done for the KHL season - and maybe longer - in protest of the invasion. With the KHL about to start its playoffs, this kind of news isn't what any league wants to hear, so let's take a peek at how the KHL is being affected by Vladimir Putin's decision.

Le Fin(n)

We'll start with the Finnish club as Jokerit saw all sorts of news surrounding the team from the past few days, some of it affecting the club directly.

Officially, Jokerit finished in second-place in the KHL's Western Conference this season, so they were definitely in the mix for the playoffs. As they prepared to host the seventh-place finisher later this week, Russia made the decision to invade Ukraine which sparked outrage across the globe. That outrage was seen in Finland, and the official fan club of Jokerit, Eteläpääty ry, demanded the club sever ties with the KHL over Russia's decision to invade Ukraine on February 22, citing "immeasurable damage" to the club if they continue to play KHL games.

Jokerit hadn't responded when they took the next hit as one of the club's major sponsors, Barona Employment Agency, pulled its sponsorship from the club with CEO Lassi Määttä stating, "We do not want to be involved in supporting the activities of the Jokers, who play in the Russian KHL League. This is our statement on the current situation in Ukraine and Russia's military operations there."

The pain continued for Jokerit as Finnish beverage giant Hartwall, who owns the naming rights to Jokerit's arena, also announced that they were considering pulling their sponsorship of the team and arena due to the team's involvement in the Russian hockey league.

With major sponsors leaving or threatening to leave and with fans demanding the team do right, Jokerit made the decision to step away from the KHL playoffs in support of Ukraine. The second-ranked team in the Western Conference will not play in the Gagarin Cup Playoffs, and we'll see what happens next season with respect to Jokerit's inclusion if Russia's aggression towards its neighbours continues. Jokerit can't afford to lose major sponsors, so this will be something to watch as time marches forward.

We're Out

Just as the KHL was absorbing the news of Jokerit calling it a season prematurely, shocking news came out of the Latvian capital as Dinamo Riga announced that they too were supporting Ukraine, but they went a step further that Jokerit in withdrawing from the KHL entirely!

"The decision to withdraw from KHL has been made, thus expressing a clear position of the club management," said Juris Savickis, chairman of Dinamo Riga's supervisory board. "In such a military and humanitarian crisis, we do not see any opportunity for cooperation with the Kontinental Hockey League."

Dinamo Riga, for what it's worth, missed the playoffs as they finished in 12th-place in the 12-team Western Conference, so this doesn't have the same effect on the KHL in the present as Jokerit's withdrawal from the playoffs. If this is a permanent withdrawal, though, it speaks volumes to Latvia's views on Russia and its invasion of an ally in Ukraine. We'll see how the story unfolds once this season ends, but Dinamo Riga may have made the biggest statement regarding Russia's invasion of Ukraine to date.

The Ruble In Rubble

With Russia facing an economic crisis thanks to the international sanctions they're now under, the cost of paying players in American dollars suddenly got a lot more costly. There are foreigners who play in the KHL, so if they negotiated in rubles, the value of those contracts also took a serious hit thanks to ruble's falling value. Needless to say, there were some players who decided that it was time to move on from their KHL squads.

Kenny Agostino of Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo and Geoff Platt of Salavat Yulaev Ufa were two names that I had heard that terminated their contracts with their respective clubs. Nick Bailen of Traktor Chelyabinsk and Nick Shore of Novosibirsk Sibir confirmed that they had terminated their contracts with those two teams while Finnish-born Markus Granlund walked away from Salavat Yulaev Ufa and Shane Prince left Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg as well.

There will be some large holes left in the lineups of those clubs who are competing in the Gagarin Cup Playoffs with these players choosing to walk away from their deals, and I'm not sure how the KHL will be able to attract foreigners to play in the league with the ruble being virtually worthless at this point.

More Dollars Lost

The effect that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is having on players within Russia is being felt, and it's now being felt on players who are playing in the NHL as CCM announced on Monday that they'll no longer use any Russian NHL players in any global marketing initiatives. While contracts will be honoured for legal reasons with stars like Alexander Ovechkin, don't expect to see Ovechkin or his Russian compatriots in future commercials or ads for the company. That would include both Evgeni Malkin and Dmitry Orlov who are also under contract with CCM.

"We are very sad to witness, like the rest of the world, what is happening in Ukraine," CCM chief executive Marrouane Nabih wrote in an email to TSN. "Although Mr. Ovechkin is not responsible for the Russian government's actions, we took the decision to not use him (or any Russian player) on any global CCM communication at this point."

Alex Ovechkin is also being dropped by MassMutual, a life insurance company, from their commerical that began running in October. A spokesperson for MassMutual told ESPN that "the ad is no longer on the air" and has been removed from their YouTube videos as well.

The impact the Russian invasion of Ukraine is having on Russians is now hitting the pocketbooks and wallets of their most famous sports stars, and I can't see them supporting Putin's vision of Russia for much longer.

A Tiny Bit Of Good News?

Ak Bars Kazan appears to be maturing in a big way as they unveiled a new logo today, replacing the cartoonish logo they've used for so long. In what seems to be the trend, the Snow Leopards appear to be aiming for a more aggressive leopard on the logo while incorporating a few other elements that may not be as well-known. The tulip in the logo, for example, is one of those "why did they include that" things as we rarely see flowers on hockey jerseys. Luckily for us, they explained the new logo!

As per their statement from the KHL website, "The new emblem is an image of a white leopard on a shield in the form of a tulip, one of the main symbols of Tatarstan. The logo is made in the traditional club colors - green, white, red - with the addition of a gray tint, corresponding to the natural color of the snow leopards. Together with the main logo, the club will introduce an alternative emblem in the form of a paw, repeating the shape of a tulip, and a new lettering. A corporate font has also been adopted, which includes three alphabets: Russian, Tatar and English. The logo and corporate identity were developed by the Quberten studio."

Imagery aside, I kinda like the new logo. The snow leopard's gray is a nice addition to the cat image and it does make the snow leopard look more like its feline inspiration. The tulip/cat paw imagery doesn't really mean a whole lot outside of the team explaining and/or rationalizing it, and I'd almost prefer a round logo like they currently use with the cat's face inside a la the Florida Panthers' alternate jerseys. Either way, though, I think the new logo is an improvement on the old one, so call me a fan of the new look for Ak Bars Kazan!

If you thought the sanctions imposed on Russia by the world affected only those living in Russia, it's pretty clear that it's had an effect on a number of people and teams who aren't Russian at all. This only goes to show how interconnected we are in this world and how the effects of someone's decisions or actions affect so many other people.

While these international sanctions have certainly affected the Russian government and people, we shouldn't forget why they were imposed. The decisions made by the leadership of Russia are destroying Ukraine, but are also decimating the KHL, affecting its most popular hockey stars across the planet, and tarnishing the league's reputation for players who may have considered it an option.

Let it be known: nothing good ever comes from starting wars.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!