What looked like a done deal weeks ago is now stalling and it's not clear whether Russia will officially sign the document.
"Right now, it's issues that exist between the IIHF and the Russian Federation," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Monday from New York. [...] "Our position is that while we think the transfer agreement is important and beneficial to the sport, if it doesn't get done the players are going to come here anyway."
Russian League club owners are the ones who continue to resist signing. New Russian hockey federation head Vladislav Tretiak, it appeared, had smoothed things over in early June with them. Both Tretiak and the NHL were somewhat confident at the time that an official announcement would soon happen.
But the Russian clubs continued to dither and the deal still isn't done.
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=171546&hubname=nhl
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