RIGA — When the hours of daylight begin to shorten and the old scratchy jerseys are pulled out of the back of the closets, it means two things: the beginning of the long Baltic winter and if you are a Latvian , the beginning of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL).
Coming into its second season, the Russian based KHL is already starting to ruffle the feathers of its much more established rival, North America’s National Hockey League (NHL).
Being based in Russia the KHL has a limited number of foreign teams in its league. The Baltic’s boast one of these foreign teams, Latvian-based Dinamo Riga. Since the 80s the NHL has enjoyed the services of the best Eastern European talent who could not dream of receiving the same amount of money if they were to stay displaying their talents at home. But with the introduction of the KHL, things began to change.
The majority of the teams playing in the KHL are run by a wealthy consortium of Russian businessmen who are willing to match the offers given to the top players from NHL franchises. A number of aging Eastern European players have now decided to return home to play out their final days as professional players, and something back to their loyal fans.
With this group of players already past their peak, they are not a cause of major concern in NHL circles. However, what is much more of a concern to the NHL is the young talent who no longer have to shift to North America to ply their wares but stay at home.
The fact that Russian-based teams must also have five foreign players on their roster means that a lot of the teams are beginning to look further aboard than just their neighboring countries for talent. As long as the Russian businessmen continue to back the KHL, then the true danger the KHL poses for the NHL will begin to show over the next five years as the amount of talent coming into the league begins to dry up.
Dinamo Riga are one such team that has pulled back stalwarts for them to see out their careers, with the signing of arguably Latvia’s greatest ever player Sandis Ozoliņš. Ozoliņš, somewhat of a national hero in Latvia, is sure to increase the interest in the team this season. While certainly past his best playing, his experience is not to be underestimated, something which has been acknowledged with his appointment as captain.
In the inaugural KHL season Dinamo Riga finished a credible 10th out of 24 teams, the highest place non-Russian franchise. The first assignment for the 09/10 season comes tomorrow when they take on last season’s champion Salavat Yulaev Ufa at a sold-out Arena Riga.
Dinamo Riga will be confident of their ability to topple the Russians given the strong pre-season campaign. Such a feat would pluck a feather in the Latvians’ cap and send a warning to the rest of the league.
