Yakupov’s Transfer

A little over a week ago I wrote about Nail Yakupov's transfer papers to play in the KHL during the lockout.  At that time Yakupov's agent Igor Larionov was publicly complaining that the NHL was preventing his transfer to play in Europe during the lockout.  Yakupov, the top pick in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft selected by the Edmonton Oilers wanted to play for his hometown team Neftekhmik Nizhnekamsk in the KHL during the lockout. 

At this time Szymon Szemberg of the International Ice Hockey Federation refuted the claims by saying that it takes seven days for his agency to complete transfer papers.  There was nothing special going on in Yakupov's case.  It was just an inefficient bureaucracy taking longer than it should.  That should be enough to make us wonder if the IIHF is serving any purpose when it comes to its  paperwork regarding player transfers between countries but it turns out it is much worse than that.  Szemberg was either lying or misinformed.  Hockey Canada is preventing Yakupov's transfer to play in Russia and quite likely the Edmonton Oilers are on their side.

UPDATE:  The next morning Hockey Canada signed off on Yakupov's transfer, so the IIHF is processing it and he can play in the KHL.

Source: http://kuklaskorner.com/psh/comments/yakupovs-transfer

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