Swedish hockey players Lucas Wallmark and Joakim Nordström, who represented their country at the last Beijing Olympics, did not honor the treaty and left the Russian KHL prematurely. It was very expensive.
When Russian troops attacked Ukraine in February, outsiders in the KHL wondered if they should stay in the competition, associated with Vladimir Putin’s regime, and interfere in the playoffs.
Many of them persevered. They explained that they couldn’t leave just because they would have to pay a huge fine for breaking the contract. The Finnish goalkeeper from Nizhnekamsk even mentioned that his Czech team-mates Lukáš Klok and Ronald Knot had been threatened.
However, despite all the complications, some foreigners left, such as Swedes Wallmark and Nordström from CSKA, Moscow. Now the details have surfaced.
Both forwards played two more matches in the elimination bouts, but then disappeared. However, since they had a valid contract until 2023, they had to pay. According to the Swedish station SVT, each of them lost more than 30 million crowns.
As their agent declined to comment further, it’s unclear if this is the fine itself, or if next season’s lost salary amount is included in the amount (if he were to be the same as this year, it would be 14 million). In any case, Wallmark and Nordström certainly did not improve financially.
“Morality is important to them, not money,” commented Szymon Szemberg, president of the European Club Association. “To some extent they get their money back because they are good enough to get a contract in Switzerland, where they can find seven to ten million (conversion into crowns, editor’s note). That’s less than in Russia, because Swiss clubs base their payments on hockey revenue, not oil and gas money. »
Although the KHL, like the NHL overseas, has introduced salary caps, at least for the current season, it still offers players significantly better financial terms than any European competition.
The best players earn more than 25 million crowns a year there. After Switzerland, mentioned by Szemberg, the Swedish league is the best, where the best hockey players take about seven million.
The Czech extraliga lags behind, however, even in it the best player can reach five six million. However, to cover the fine paid by Wallmark and Nordström with this annual salary, he would have to shine for many years.
The Swedes have the advantage of making a good living in the North American NHL. According to CapFriendly, the 26-year-old Wallmark fetched $2.8 million (over 64 million crowns) and Nordström, four years older, earned almost 6.7 million (about 151 million crowns).
It should be added that these are gross amounts. Typically, the NHL hockey player pays about half of the payment in taxes and fees alone.
While North America remains attractive to players from around the world, the KHL is threatened by an exodus of foreigners, for example due to financial instability linked to sanctions against Russia and the unpredictable ruble, which the Russian regime now retains artificially.
However, some foreign hockey players are still participating in the Russian playoffs or plan to fulfill the contract and return next season.
“Foreigners who continue in the KHL do so of their own free will. And the only reason they do it is for the money,” Szemberg thinks. “A professional athlete is propelled by two forces: honor and money. And there’s nothing honest about playing in the KHL today, it’s just about money.”
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