Taking A Stand

Whenever I see someone on social media telling another person to "stick to sports" when they have an opinion, I chuckle quietly at how absurd that statement truly is. The fact that sports is a microcosm is society seems to be lost on a lot of people who become social media warriors, and their attempts to shut down ideas that run contrary to their own is nothing more than a failure on their parts. Never in the history of the game has politics and society been so deeply engrained on sports, and hockey is no different. That's important to remember because Russia threatened both Sweden and Finland a few weeks ago over their considering to join NATO as the war in Ukraine rages on, and both Sweden and Finland made moves today to weaken the sports scene in Russia considerably.

We already know that Helsinki, Finland's squad in Jokerit has left the KHL, so the number of Finns in the KHL overall fell greatly following that decision. There were, however, a handful of Swedes and Finns who continued to play in the KHL for a number of different reasons following the outbreak of the war waged on Ukraine by Russia, but it would seem that they'll have to carefully consider where they play next season if they ever want to wear the Finnish lion or the Swedish three crowns again.

Announced today in separate announcements, both the Finnish Ice Hockey Association and the Swedish Ice Hockey Association stated that any player who plays in the KHL next season will be officially disqualified from any and all national teams for the countries. While there was some confusion over players who were unable to leave this season, both hockey associations made it clear that any further involvement in the KHL would cost players a chance to represent either Finland or Sweden on the international stage.

"We have noted that Russia has used the KHL as its propaganda tool, and the situation has escalated during the playoffs," Swedish federation secretary general Johan Stark said. "On the part of the Swedish Hockey Association, we are going to ensure that players who choose to play in KHL for next season will not join our national team. Officially, the decision will be made by the federal government after the season."

It should be noted that Mikko Lehtonen was forced to remain at SKA St. Petersburg this season after the team imposed a "multimillion-euro fine" if he left prior to finishing the season. Lehtonen and his agent were able to scrap the final three years of the contract he signed, allowing him to seek a contract in any other league while retaining his option to play for Finland. Lehtonen is someone that Finland has identified as a national team player, and he joined Finland for the four-team Euro Hockey Tour event in Sweden as Finland prepares for the IIHF World Hockey Championship later this month.

Three Swedes played in the KHL's Gagarin Cup Final as both CSKA Moscow and Metallurg Magnitogorsk featured those players, but none have made the radar for the Swedish national team at this point in time. I would suspect that all three will be considering their options this summer with the KHL season finally coming to a close.

Whatever happens next season, the KHL will nearly be an exclusively Russian league. While there are Belorussian and Chinese teams still skating in the circuit, signing Finns and Swedes just got a lot harder for those teams if they're needing an infusion of talent. I suspect Latvians, who have yet to make a declaration on their players, may follow suit after Dinamo Riga also left the KHL, but that will remain to be seen.

After Russia threatened both Sweden and Finland over their deciding on whether they should join NATO, it would appear that not only are they not going to be swayed by threats, but they'll continue to weaken the one thing that Russians are united over in their professional hockey league. I hope that other countries who have stood up and condemned the invasion of Russia do the same, but I'm not certain how many Canadian and American players have remained on KHL rosters at this point as an example.

One thing is clear, though: this war has affected Russia in more ways than just militaristic. There have been sociological losses, economic losses, and, as we're seeing now, athletic losses as countries force their players to decide on what side of the ledger they want to be. This shouldn't be a hard decision for those players to make, though, because it seems obvious to me that doing the morally-right thing is far more important than doing the financially-beneficial thing.

Kudos to Finland and Sweden for drawing a line in the sand.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!