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Will Russian players be banned in the NHL?

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Individual Russians should not be banned from doing anything, unless they publicly support Putin's actions or spread propaganda about it.  There is clearly no justification for this and if  anybody speaks up for Putin, they should not be welcome in any competitions.  All international competitions (Olympics, World Cups, Tennis, etc...) should immediately ban Russia from competing.  They have shown, as a nation in a coordinated way, that they cheat all the time and now they have shown that they don't belong in the world order.

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I agree with an earlier post that the NHL doesn't give a ...

 

However if they actually wanted to do the ethical thing I would suggest dealing with it on a player by player basis.  This is an unusual situation that could perhaps benefit from an unusual response.  If Russians are willing to sign a statement condemning the war then they can stay.  If they support Putin's completely illegitimate war then why should we hard working democratic citizens pay for their salaries and treat them like celebrities?  Democracies don't have to eat themselves (i.e. allow anti-democratic forces to exist without repercussions).  One could say that we should keep sports and politics separate but there comes a time when outrageous actions have to be called out and unusual steps must be taken.  This is such a time.  But hey, that's just a suggestion for people who care about ethics.  That doesn't include the NHL or a lot of the general public.

 

 

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3 minutes ago, Dixon Ward said:

Individual Russians should not be banned from doing anything, unless they publicly support Putin's actions or spread propaganda about it.  There is clearly no justification for this and if  anybody speaks up for Putin, they should not be welcome in any competitions.  All international competitions (Olympics, World Cups, Tennis, etc...) should immediately ban Russia from competing.  They have shown, as a nation in a coordinated way, that they cheat all the time and now they have shown that they don't belong in the world order.

That's Ovechkin.

Edited by NewbieCanuckFan
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No, Russian players will not be banned from the NHL. Why? Apart from the problem of breaking a player contract, which would be a clear violation of the CBA, it would wind up costing owners big money. Now, NHL owners are not crazy about the idea of paying out millions of dollars to star players who AREN'T playing for them and you'll understand how and why the NHL is likely to remain relatively silent about the invasion of Ukraine. And you aren't going to make players sign any statements that condemn Putin? Why? Apart from being authoritarian, it is because they all have family members at home who would be at serious risk for harm if a prominent Russian dared to criticize Putin, his government or his military. This is Putin we are dealing with, and if he can't order them poisoned or thrown out a window from a high floor do you think he'd hesitate to go after an NHL player's family? 

 

But the question shouldn't be "Should Russians be allowed to play in the NHL". It should be more like, "What do we have to do to support our players and their families?" And though Ovechkin's past public support for Putin may invite some backlash from politically minded fans, he won't lose his job.

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Obviously. They deserve it too. I recall watching Kucherov and Vasilevskiy storm a wall and garrote a bunch of Ukrainians themselves. The Russian army didn't even know what was going on, they just came out of nowhere clad in nothing but warpaint screaming about the Blue Jackets.

Edited by McBackup
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