The NHL’s salary cap and its current player transfer agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation resulted in a growing exodus since the past summer of players signing with European teams.

While the NHL and the IIHF will be re-opening the agreement in January aimed at better compensation for European teams and improved player development, no changes will be made regarding the salary cap.

That still means players who might have had jobs with NHL teams in the past will be faced with playing in Europe if they hope to keep their playing careers alive.

That’s led some observers to suggest this weakens the NHL talent base whilst bolstering the European leagues, especially with recent speculation of Russian billionaire Alex Medvedev forming a rival European league.

A close examination of the caliber of the talent bolting for Europe since July 2007, however, indicates no weakening of the NHL talent base.

The most notable of those players include Alexei Yashin, Petr Nedved, Aleksey Morozov, Oleg Saprykin, Jan Bulis, Anson Carter, Dmitri Afanasenkov, Jamie Lundmark, Ville Nieminen, Ossi Vaananen, Danny Markov, and Ed Belfour.

Not to be cruel, but this list consists of has-beens and never-weres. Of this list, only Markov and Vaananen would still have value today to NHL teams.

Most of the former NHL’ers who headed overseas since the summer made little significant contribution to their respective NHL teams last season, hence the reason they were unable to land new contracts.

Some, like the LA Kings’ Oleg Tverdovsky, NY Rangers’ Darius Kasparaitis, Boston Bruins’ Stanislav Chistov and Columbus Blue Jackets Alex Svitov, broke existing NHL contracts to play in the Russian Super League. Russia is currently not part of the NHL-IIHF player transfer agreement.

Those players did so either to avoid toiling in the minors or to earn more money and playing time back in Russia, but only the Blue Jackets were upset over losing their player. The departures of Tverdovsky, Kasparaitis and Chistov were greeted almost with silence by their respective NHL teams. The Rangers actually encourage Kasparaitis to return to Russia.

The reason is quite clear: they were no longer good enough to be NHL players, and their respective NHL teams were pleased to be free of their remaining contractual obligations.

It’s their inability to play well enough to merit NHL contracts that kept most of the aforementioned players out of the league, not the salary cap.

If Yashin, Tverdovsky, Nedved, and Kasparaitis were still in their playing prime it would be a worthwhile concern that their absence hurts the NHL talent. Nobody misses them now, and if the European leagues want them, they’re welcome to them.

If impending free agents like Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Lidstrom, Marian Hossa, Corey Perry or Dion Phaneuf were signed by European teams next summer it would merit concern.  However, the NHL is the showcase of the best talent in professional hockey and there’s no European team or league that can competitively bid for the NHL’s best talent.

That’s why some of this concern about a European “super league” challenging the NHL’s supremacy is baseless.

Any new “super league” would either have to convince the top teams in the currently established European leagues to join them or would have to create new teams in those countries.

Don’t expect either prospect to be successful. Many of the current European leagues have rich legacies and aren’t about to tear themselves apart to join a new “super league”. Fans of those respective established leagues won’t transfer their loyalties from their current teams any more than most NHL fans did when the World Hockey Association was in its heyday in the 1970s.

Furthermore, many of the European teams lack NHL-style facilities to pack in the kind of audiences required to drum up the revenue required for NHL-style payrolls, and it remains to be seen if European hockey fans would warm to the prospect of paying much higher ticket prices.

Even the richest teams in the Russian Super League having payrolls less than half of those of the top NHL teams. It takes big bucks to entice the top NHL talent to Europe and that kind of money just isn’t there.

Ultimately, the level of talent heading to Europe won’t make European leagues significantly stronger and aren’t a direct challenge to the NHL’s superiority.  

Amidst the frenzy of UFA signings, arbitration news and the Edmonton Oilers attempts to sign Thomas Vanek and Dustin Penner, several unrestricted free agents have found themselves unable to land contracts as the summer’s progresses and available cap space shrinks.

That’s spurred what appears to be a growing number of fading and marginal NHL’ers to sign contracts with European clubs next season.

Forwards Alexei Yashin and Petr Nedved were the most notable players to sign with European teams, but they’re not the only ones.

Goaltender Jussi Markkanen, who starred for the Edmonton Oilers during the 2006 Stanley Cup finals in relief of injured starter Dwayne Roloson, signed with the Finnish club Jokerit on July 30th.

Despite his Finals heroics, Markkanen was never going to displace Roloson as the Oilers starter, but it’s surprising that he was unable to land with another NHL team as a backup.

Forward Oleg Saprykin, who played on two Stanley Cup finalists in Calgary and Ottawa, wound up rejecting the Senators qualifying offer to sign with CSKA Moscow of the Russian Super League.

Saprykin had a decent 2006-07 season with the Phoenix Coyotes (14 goals, 34 points, +8 in 59 games) and after being dealt to the Senators earned some praise for his strong play on Ottawa’s fourth line during their playoff run.

Former Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers forward Dmitry Afanasenkov signed on August 1st with Moscow Dynamo of the Russian Super League.

Afanasenkov, a member of the Lightning’s 2004 Stanley Cup championship team, was once believed to have a bright future in the NHL as a checking line winger but failed to play up to expectations and attracted little interest as an unrestricted free agent.

Not all of those heading overseas are European.

Forward Jamie Lundmark will be joining Afanasenkov on the Dynamo.  Once a highly touted first round pick of the New York Rangers, Lundmark never played up to expectations.

Since the 2005-06 season he bounced from the Rangers to Phoenix to Calgary to Los Angeles. He’s only 26 but unless he can significantly improve his game in the Russian Super League, his NHL career could be over.

Former Calgary Flames backup goaltender Jamie “Noodles” McLennan signed with Mettalurg Magnitogorsk of the Russian Super League.  

McLennan is a 12-year NHL veteran who has played on six NHL teams and won the Masterton Trophy in 1998. Most recently, he incurred the wrath of Detroit Red Wings fans everywhere with a vicious and uncharacteristic slash to the stomach of Wings forward Johan Franzen during a Wings-Calgary Flames playoff game in 2007.

Well-traveled defenseman Ric Jackman signed with Red Bulls Salzburg of the Austrian League. Jackman played on six NHL teams since 1999-2000 in a career that saw him bounced between the NHL and the minors.

He earned a Stanley Cup ring as a member of the defending champion Anaheim Ducks and looked good in his limited post-season performances with the team, but that apparently wasn’t good enough to entice the Ducks to re-sign him or other NHL teams to snap him up.

Most of these players might also have “out clauses” in their new contracts, which would allow them to sign an NHL contract for next season if an NHL team comes calling.

However, if those players get signed after the start of the 2007-08 NHL season they’d have to pass through waivers, where they could be plucked away by a rival NHL team.

Don’t expect to see Yashin back, as he one of the few who apparently doesn’t have an escape clause in his contract to return to the NHL this season.

The Ottawa Senators made a move to bolster their forward depth today, acquiring winger Oleg Saprykin and a late round pick from the Phoenix Coyotes in exchange for a second round pick.

The Senators were in the market for Gary Roberts and possibly Bill Guerin but GM John Muckler pointed out on Monday that the asking prices for those players (first round picks, prospect/roster players) was higher than he was willing to pay.

Saprykin certainly is a more affordable acquisition both in terms of salary and return, but he lacks the offensive impact that Roberts or Guerin might’ve brought.

He’s been something of a disappointment throughout most of his career, expected to be a scoring forward yet until this season he’d never potted more than 25 points in a season. This season, however, he’s on pace for 20 goals and 45 points, an achievement all the more impressive considering he’s notched those totals with the woeful Coyotes.

Saprykin also has decent post-season experience, having played for the 2004 Cup finalist Calgary Flames.

Muckler hasn’t had much success in recent years with deadline acquisitions, but it’s possible Saprykin’s speed and stickhandling skills could be a good fit on the more talented Senators.