Will Russian players selected in the NHL Draft 2022 be allowed to travel to the US?

The war in Ukraine has put NHL teams in a very peculiar position where the drafting of Russia-born prospects is concerned given that they may well not be permitted to qplay in North America.

Ukraine War is a problem for NHL’s and Russian Draft prospects

Though no team has officially indicated that they would refrain from selecting Russian players in the league’s Draft which begins on Thursday in Montreal, there is the very real possibility that players of Russian descent could be left out in the cold when the two day event gets underway.

“I don’t know if anybody has the answer,” said Seattle general manager Ron Francis. Seattle of course has 12 picks across seven rounds in the Draft, including No. 4 overall. “It’s certainly unknown right now so it makes it, I think, a little more riskier than years past.” True though it is that there has always been the chance that Russian prospects could actually decide to stay home to play, there is now the added problem of travel restrictions. To date there are restrictions in place on any individuals wanting to travel to or from Russia and Belarus. With that being the case, one can imagine that the question as to whether Russian picks will be allowed to enter the country, is now of very real importance.

The NHL also faces a contractual problem

To make matters even worse, reports indicate that the NHL and its Russian-based counterpart, the Kontinental Hockey League, do not have a transfer agreement between them. What that means is that NHL teams can’t buy out any KHL contracts, which in turn poses a significant stumbling block for franchises hoping to sign a player from the world’s next best hockey league. Canadiens GM Kent Hughes recently indicated that it would be down to each team to calculate the risks involved in acquiring a Russian player. “It’s simple enough to say that the war in Russia creates a level of complexity or probably more uncertainty,” Hughes said. “Any team picking has to balance the uncertainty of it with the potential of the player.”

What’s the NHL’s stance?

While the NHL has not laid down any official rules where Russian players are concered, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly admits that the uncertainty could result in teams being more hesitant to take on Russian talent. “Would it surprise me if some slip in where they’re projected to go based on the inability to access them? Potentially,” Daly said. To be clear there are several Russian prospects that are expected to go in the first round. Defenseman Pavel Mintyukov for example, is ranked sixth among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting after having played in the Ontario Hockey League last season. Then there are wingers Danila Yurov and Ivan Miroshnichenko, who played in Russia and are among the top 10-ranked European skaters.

In the case of Miroshnichenko, the situation is somewhat more complicated due to the fact that he was unable to complete his season after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in March. With that said, it is understood that he has since completed his treatments and as such will be in attendance at the Draft.

The Red Wings intend to go with Russian players

Detroit general manager Steve Yzerman has indicated that the Red Wings are in fact evaluating top Russian prospects. “We’re preparing our lists or organizing our lists as we normally would,” Yzerman said. “Ultimately, we’re going to want to draft really good prospects, and make sure they’re good kids.” Central Scouting chief Dan Marr remains sure that Russian players will be selected, however, he’s unsure as to how long they may have to wait before they can play. “I wouldn’t even want to try and guess as to what the NHL clubs are thinking,” Marr said. “If you’re sitting there and you’ve got a solid prospect for the NHL, are you going to go by him or do you want to step up and take him, and cross your fingers and hope that the world is in a different place a couple of years from now.”

Marr also added that he and his staff had conducted a mock draft in which the first Russian player wasn’t selected until the second round. Interestingly, there were 29 Russian players selected in last year’s draft with with Fedor Svechkov who was selected No. 19 by Nashville, being the only one to go in the first round

The Buffalo Sabres also want Russian players

Last year the Sabres drafted four Russian players and according to GM Kevyn Adams, they aren’t backing away from the possibility of doing the same this year. In preparing the Sabres’ draft board, Adams told his staff to rank each player as usual before placing an asterisk next to the Russian prospects to allow for further discussion. “If we get to a spot in the draft where we feel that there’s real value there, then we’re going to talk about that,” Adams said, referring to selecting a Russian player. “So, we’re open to that.”