MOSCOW, November 27 (R-Sport) – The KHL entry draft is harmful to two-time champion Ak Bars Kazan because the team is losing talented youngsters, the manager said Tuesday.
The draft was introduced in 2009, prior to the second KHL season, and has been held every year since.
Some teams, particularly those with strong youth academies, protest the system because they can’t prevent all of the players they reared from being drafted.
“For us, it is unacceptable and unprofitable,” Kirill Golubev said on Ak Bars’ website. “We invest big funds in our school, and they take our alumni for meager compensation.”
Golubev insisted there was no parallel to be drawn with the NHL Entry Draft because there, it is the parents who bankroll the players' development, while in the KHL it is largely the clubs that bears those costs.
“We are feeding players, providing clothes and cover transport expenses for them, and tomorrow the likes of Amur [Khabarovsk] take them.”
“The draft is profitable for weak teams that do not invest in young players. For them, it is easier to buy semi-prepared players for a penny,” Golubev concluded.
Golubev didn't provide any examples of players lost to the draft.
In this year's draft, Denis Alexandrov was selected first overall by the current Western Conference leader SKA St. Petersburg. Alexandrov learned the game at the Krylya Sovetov Moscow youth academy.
