As has been widely reported, a mess of NHL stars are staying game-ready by signing up with European teams. Most of them are European-born players returning to the systems they came up in: Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk are playing in Russia, Jaromir Jagr and Milan Hejduk in the Czech Republic, Peter Forsberg and Markus Naslund in Sweden, and so on. (Playing in his hometown of Ornskoldsvik for the first time in ten years, Forsberg got a goal and an assist.)
So what's Wrentham, Massachusetts native
Garth Snow doing
in Saint Petersburg, Russia?
He's making five hundred thousand American greenbacks, that's what! That's big money for
SKA St. Petersburg player. According to ChannelNewsAsia.com, some of Snow's teammates make five hundred bucks a week (one thousandth of Snow's salary, for those of you who aren't so good at math). The Toronto Star reports that other NHLers signing in Europe enjoy perks like apartments and luxury cars.
Other North American foreign exchange players include Canadians Daniel Briere, Joe Thornton and Rick Nash, all of whom are skating in Switzerland (Briere on a two-game tryout basis). According to the Star, Canadians account for just
25 of the 173 NHLers playing in Europe. A
complete list is available on the International Ice Hockey Federation web site.
It's not clear that any of these players' arrangements will stick. Snow told the Star that "the contracts are really only worth the paper they are printed on. I've heard of guys showing up from North America, staying for two days and then leaving."
"Russian contracts are supposed to be paid by a certain date but most of the time they are five days or a week late," Snow said. How about that? All that Glasnost and in Russia people still wait for bread!