NHL gets edge in battle with Russia over player defections

NEW YORK (AP) -Evgeni Malkin was cleared to stay with the Pittsburgh Penguins after a federal judge denied a demand by his former Russian club that he be yanked from the NHL.

Metallurg Magnitogorsk, a Russian Super League team, claims that Malkin is under contract in his native country. The club sought a preliminary injunction that would have banned the forward from playing for the Penguins until the matter is resolved.

But the ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Loretta A. Preska clears the way for Malkin, a star rookie with Penguins, and minor leaguers Andrei Taratukhin of the Calgary Flames and Alexei Mikhnov of the Edmonton Oilers to stick with the NHL franchises.

Led by Metallurg Magnitogorsk, Russian clubs sued in October claiming that the NHL broke U.S. antitrust law and improperly interfered in their business affairs by signing away players who were still under contract.

The deal with the International Ice Hockey Federation calls for the NHL to pay a $200,000 fee when it signs European players, but Russian hockey officials declined to sign the agreement on the grounds that they were unfairly compensated for top talent.

Since then, the world's two top hockey leagues have been at odds.

In August, the NHL told its clubs they were free to sign contracts with Russian hockey players already under contract.

Malkin, 20, had just signed a one-year contract with Metallurg Magnitogorsk when he abruptly left camp to join the Penguins this fall.

In retaliation, the Russian clubs asked the U.S. courts to issue an injunction benching the players in North America and returning them to their old teams while the case was fought.

Preska ruled that the Russians hadn't met the standard for a preliminary injunction. To do so, she said, they would have had to prove that the players' absence from the Russian league was causing their former teams irreparable harm.

The courts have generally found that the loss of a star athlete can indeed constitute such a harm, but Preska said that in this case, the Russian clubs appeared to be more concerned with wresting larger player transfer fees from the NHL than maintaining their competitiveness.

"These cases were always about money," Preska said. "The only issue is how much."

The ruling doesn't stop the case for good, but all but ensures that Malkin, Taratukhin and Mikhnov will remain with their NHL teams.