MOSCOW, May 3, Svetlana Bonopartova. They are coming to the Russian championship middle-level legionnaires who take the place of Russian hockey players, said the honored coach of Russia Vladimir Plushev.
Earlier, the President of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation (FHR), Vladislav Tretyak, told reporters that the Russian Ministry of Sports approved a format according to which next season the clubs of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) will be able to apply for the match no more than three foreign players.
“The decision has already been made, so this should be treated only as a decision. All the same, the level of play in Russia is falling not because we don’t have foreigners, but because we have stopped preparing our star boys. problem and it's been there for a long time. We haven't been able to win the world championship for 12 years. Is that normal?» Plushev said.
«Clubs should make claims against themselves. Why schools and academies that were opened all over Russia cannot create athletes with a high level of sportsmanship. And we still don't have star foreigners. The time when legionnaires played in our championship has passed level of (Jaromir) Jagr. Average players come to us, yes, they are higher than ours, but they are average, so you can’t say that they can create something outstanding in the domestic championship. They just take the place that they could take our hockey players,» the source added.