Alexander Zharovsky: his Russian team has big money problems

Dose
Crédit:

Alexander Zharovsky was the first player drafted by the Habs last draft. The Habs selected him 34th, but the club feels it was really lucky to be able to pick him so late.

After all, the Habs had him near the 16th spot on their list… and we know they held the 16th and 17th picks at the last draft before trading them to the Islanders for a certain Noah Dobson.

That said, the young forward isn’t likely to make the leap to America for a while yet. He’s under contract in Russia until the end of the 2026-27 season, so he should spend the next two years there.

Now, Russian media outlet Business Online has published a piece on Zharovsky’s team in the KHL. And what we learn in this text is that Salavat Yulaev (the KHL team in which Zharovsky is expected to play this year) has very serious financial problems.

And it’s already having a major impact.

The club, which had a great season last year, was forced to let go several big names who were in town last year. The players were too expensive, and the club is already drowning in debt.

Last year, for example, some of the team’s players almost refused to play a game because their salaries were late in arriving. It was the team coach who convinced the players to take part in the match.

What you need to know is that, according to Business Online, over the last few years, Salavat has lost a good part of the money it was paid. Worse still, the money it does receive is now in the form of loans, which means that the club no longer has many financial resources.

In short, we need to find revenue… and that’s where Zharovsky’s case becomes interesting.

This week, our colleague Charles-Alexis Brisebois wrote an article in which he recounted the words of Zharovsky’s coach, Viktor Kozlov, and this sentence caught our attention:

Let the Canadiens visit us, see how they see Zharovsky’s development, and when the time comes, we’ll think about the possibility of letting him go. – Viktor Kozlov

So it’s easy to make Habs connections here. Colleague Charles-Alexis was talking about a possible sweetener the Habs could offer to try to repatriate Zharovsky sooner rather than later, after all…

Remember that NHL teams can’t directly pay a KHL team to release a player, as this is illegal. However, a player can buy out his contract… or a team can release a player before the end of his contract (e.g. Ivan Demidov last April or Matvei Michkov last summer).

You have to think that in 2025-26, Zharovsky will be playing in Russia. That said, perhaps at the end of the year, if Salavat is drowning in debt, the Habs will be able to talk to the club to see if an arrangement can be made.

The kid will therefore focus on being ready for his arrival in North America (a bit like Demidov before him)… but his team’s financial woes in Russia could speed things up.

Overtime

– Wow.

– That’s extremely impressive.

– Whew.

– Big contract for Chiefs player.