If Hall of Famer Slava Fetisov gets his way, Russian hockey players won’t be able to leave for the NHL until they’re 28 years old.
What does this mean for the NHL, and Caps fans in particular? Alex Ovechkin would just have finished up his sophomore season, and Evgeny Kuznetsov would still be playing in Russia for many more years.
Fetisov, 57, is a senator on Russia’s Federation Council. He was also a virtual slave in the Soviet Union during the Red Army days. His story is outlined brilliantly in the movie Red Army, about the best Russian hockey players and team of the 1980s.