Some IIHF Teeth?

No one will fault you if you can't identify the player to the left, but that's goaltender Ivan Fedotov in his CSKA uniform and gear. Fedotov had been drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers in 2015, but had been playing in Russia before he had hoped to join the Flyers for the 2022-23 season. The problem was that Russia required him to fulfill his mandatory military duties which hadn't been done, and he was sent to a military base last summer to complete those requirements after having won a gold medal at the 2022 Olympics and the Gagarin Cup in the KHL. Th Flyers, hoping to have him in camp to compete for a goaltending roster spot, were forced to wait at least one more year before Fedotov could potentially join them.

While none of this seems particularly out of style for Russian players, the issue that came to light was Fedotov's contractual rights. The Flyers had signed Fedotov on May 7, 2022 to a one-year entry-level contract in an effort to bring him over to North America to compete for that aforementioned goalie spot. However, after being detained and sent to the Russian military installation, it was reported that Fedotov signed a three-year contract with CSKA to remain with the Russian club.

Clearly, signing a contract with two different professional teams isn't going to fly with either team. The Flyers believed that Fedotov owed them a year of play after signing their deal, and the one year of military service didn't count towards his contractual obligations with the Flyers. CSKA believed differently, and they signed him as they saw him as a free agent. The Flyers, not liking how this was playing out, registered a formal complaint with the IIHF in order to have hockey's international governing body rule on the contract situation.

Before we go any further, one has to wonder who was giving Fedotov legal advice in this situation because a contract is an obligation to do something. If Fedotov didn't play a single second of hockey for the Flyers after agreeing to fulfill one year's worth of seconds of time, it's hard to understand how he could believe he's a free agent following his mandatory military service that had nothing to do with the Flyers. Had he not tried to evade said military service, he likely could have been a free agent, but he opted to come to the US, sign a contract, go back to Russia, and get detained by law enforcement for evading his mandatory service. This entire ordeal, it seems, has grown out of one man's stupidity.

The IIHF did investigate the claim by the Flyers, and they delivered their findings today.

"Based on the evidence provided to the IIHF by the involved parties, the IIHF has determined that Ivan Fedotov has a valid NHL Contract with the Philadelphia Flyers Hockey Club for the 2023/2024 season. Accordingly, the IIHF has determined that Ivan Fedotov was in breach of a Professional Player Contract per Article II.4.1 of the IIHF International Transfer Regulations when he signed a contract with CSKA hockey club for the 2023/2024 season."

Oops. That's strike one. The CSKA contract breached the Flyers' deal, so we have a problem.

The IIHF continued their ruling on the matter.

"In accordance with Article II.4.1 of the IIHF International Transfer Regulations, Ivan Fedotov was given two (2) weeks to either go back to his former club (i.e Philadelphia Flyers Hockey Club); or obtain a release from his former club. As neither action occurred within the given period, the IIHF has imposed the following sporting sanctions on Ivan Fedotov:

"- A four (4) month suspension on playing in official national and international games during playing periods. The suspension shall take effect on 1 September 2023 (first CSKA regular season game) and conclude on 31 December 2023."

There's strike two. As Fedotov was the person who negotiated and signed both contracts, he should have sought to terminate the first contract before entering the second one. Since he did not, Fedotov will be forced to sit out four months in all KHL and international games. In short, see you on January 1, 2024 and not a day earlier.

The IIHF then turned its attention to the CSKA hockey club.

"In accordance with the Article II.4.2 of the IIHF International Transfer Regulations, it shall be presumed, unless established to the contrary, that any club signing a Player who has breached his Professional Player Contract has induced that Player to commit a breach. Therefore, as CSKA Hockey Club was aware of the Player’s NHL Contract and did not establish to the IIHF that it has not induced the Player to commit a breach of his Professional Player Contract, the IIHF has imposed the following sporting sanctions on CSKA Hockey Club:

"- A one (1) season ban on International Transfers taking effect on 11 August 2023 and concluding on 10 August 2024."

Strike three with the heat on that one. The IIHF will not authorize any international player transfers for the club for one full year. With the KHL already starting their preseason that won't matter much in the short term, but it could affect CSKA as players are released throughout the season. We know that CSKA likes to sign NHL talent, so this may limit what they can do throughout the year and into next summer for not respecting the contract the Flyers had with Fedotov.

The IIHF has been more forceful with Russia in recent times that ever before, and it makes me glad that they're no longer handling matters involving Russia with white gloves. For far too long, Russia bent rules, danced around rules, and found loopholes to exploit with rules, but the IIHF seems to be hitting them harder with each new punishment for breaking rules. I'm not saying that the IIHF is finally wising up to the Russian machine, but they seem to be tolerating less garbage from them.

Lessons will be learned from this, but one thing is clear: the IIHF is finally starting to enforce their rules by showing some teeth.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!