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Every summer a “sensational” controversy involving an illegal player transfer immerses the Russian hockey world. The last two high profile cases that occurred involved Metallurg Novokuznetsk and Avangard Omsk. In each case Avangard Omsk, under the “skillful” guidance of the club’s president Anatoli Bardin, attempted to sign Metallurg Novokuznetsk’s player. During the summer of 2000, Vadim Tarasov, Montreal Canadiens draftee and Russia’s best goalie two years running, signed an agreement first with Avangard Omsk, but then had a change of heart and decided to stay with Novokuznetsk. Novokuznetsk won that battle in the arbitration court, keeping their franchise player. The next summer Avangard tried again, signing Artem Chernov, Dallas Stars draftee and one of Novokuznetsk’s most productive forwards, to a multi year deal while he still allegedly had a year left on his agreement with Metallurg Novokuznetsk. This time Avangard had the upper hand and on a technicality the team succeeded in keeping the talented young forward in Omsk.

This year Metallurg Novokuznetsk and Avangard Omsk took the summer off, letting Spartak Moscow and Ak Bars Kazan take center stage in the off season scandals. After enjoying a great year with Spartak Moscow, Sergei Zinovjev seemed unhappy with the direction his team was heading. The team started off strong, but then ran into a midseason slump that resulted in Spartak Moscow finishing out of playoff contention and also resulted in the firing of the team’s head coach. During the downward spiral, Spartak Moscow somehow slighted the talented young forward and caused him to want out of the organization. Contending that Spartak did not meet the obligations specified in the contract, Sergei demanded that the contract be annulled, thus relieving him of playing another season with the team. The obligation in question was Spartak’s commitment to provide Sergei with an apartment in downtown Moscow. The team argued that it did in fact offer Sergei an apartment. However, as it was later determined by the Russian Hockey League arbitration court, the offered apartment was not in the downtown area and thus did not meet the conditions specified in the contract.

Prior to the court’s rulling, Sergei began practicing with Ak Bars Kazan, one of Super League wealthiest clubs that also acquired NHLers Alexander Korolyuk and Valeri Zelepukin in the off-season. The arbitration court did find the case in his favor, but punished him and Ak Bars for not waiting for the court’s decision before joining his new team. The court ruled that he had to stay off the ice for the first eight weeks of the regular season, but was then free to sign with any club. Spartak’s management was infuriated by the decision, and since the team had nothing to lose and everything to gain, the president threatened to take up the ruling with the appeals court. Whether or not Spartak would succeed in appeals court, Sergei Zinovjev would have had to stay off the ice for the duration of the proceedings and, as it turned out, Ak Bars Kazan was not willing to wait for that long. The team’s management ended the standoff with Spartak by offering compensation for Sergei’s rights. Spartak, which at the time had already lost it’s first three matches of the season, now had a strong incentive to settle the issue and couldn’t afford to stretch the proceedings to simply make an example out of Sergei.

On September 18th Ak Bars Kazan announced that it would send center Alexander Trofimov to Spartak Moscow for the remained of the season. The team further added that it would continue paying Trofimov’s salary while he was with Spartak Moscow. This scenario was definitely a winning situation for Ak Bars, a wealthy team which finally acquired the coveted young center and could easily afford to pay Trofimov’s salary. Spartak did not completely lose out either. Granted the team lost it’s most talented center, but that was partially the fault of Spartak Moscow’s management for not satisfying all the stipulations of his contract. Instead of getting nothing as was rulled by the court, Spartak received a quality center without increasing their payroll.

About Sergei Zinovjev:

A talented though somewhat undersized center. Selected by Boston Bruins 73rd overall in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. Started his career with Metallurg Novokuznetsk. Sergei is considered to be one of the best centers in Russia today. He was invited to join the Russian Senior National team last year, and again this year, for the EuroTour tournaments. For more information please visit www.russianprospects.com.

- Eugene Belashchenko