Russians Demand Big Money for Filatov

If you want a fine example of why NHL teams are staying away from Russian prospects more and more these days, take Columbus' pending fight with the Russian Hockey Federation over the rights to top prospect Nikita Filatov.

Without a transfer agreement between the Russians and the NHL, it was only a matter of time before the Russians starting clucking for more money.

According to a report in the daily Sovietsky Sport, Medvedev said the Blue Jackets owed half-a-million in compensation, even though Filatov's contract with CSKA (the heralded Central Red Army team) had expired.

The matter could end up headed to court, if the Russian team persists in its demands.

NHL teams are more than willing to fork out money for the rights to top Russian prospects, but they certainly won't pay $500,000 for a mid-range prospect. Thus, we've seen the number of Russian players drafted decline from about 30/year before the lockout to just five in this summer's draft. It's just not worth the headache.

Given that CSKA admitted they terminated the contract of Filatov, their position is weaker than Tampa Bay's goaltending. Filatov obviously wants to get to the NHL, and there is nothing, sort of assassinating the young prospect, that CSKA could do to stop Filatov from playing in North America next season.