The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), for economic reasons, have decided not to host Hope cup (also known as Nadezhda Cup) for teams that haven’t qualified for the Gagarin Cup playoffs.

The Management Board, after taking recommendations of the Board of Directors decided that in these economic circumstances it is not productive to host the Hope Cup. In order to motivate Hope Cup teams, a prize fund was also created which consisted of of – 50 million rubles (around 952 200 euros), and from this fund winner the won 9 million rubles (around 171 396 euros) with transport costs compensated to the club.

”Directors board suggested to decrease the expenses, so we had to find a way to do it with current situation, due to economical sanctions against Russia, and it was decided that Nadezhda Cup has to be canceled” KHL’s Vice President of hockey operations Dmitrij Kurbatov stated.

”Think carefully, which teams would want to play in [the] Hope Cup? The ones that won’t get in playoffs, those are clubs with financial problems. Where are the clubs located? They are either far away from central Russia or in Europe which means high expenses. That means that if league doesn’t cover all the expenses clubs won’t be interested in playing, and there is no point of such tournament since none would be interested in playing. ” Kurbaov said.

It was also said that the Nadezhda Cup as been canceled for this season only as there is no point to make decisions today that look far into the future. The future of the Cup in 2016 and beyond will be determined at a later date.

Teams Avanagard Omsk and Jekaterinburgh Avtomobilist have shared their opinion, and they seem to support the league’s decision.

The chairman of ”Avangard” said that he would appreciate playing in the tournament if the economical situation was better. ”If league had enough money, we would be happy to play, since league covers all expenses. Since the very begining people had a different opinion and said that Nadezhda Cup is something pointless. There are possitive and negative things about the tournament, it increases ammount of games, but the decision made by league is the right one at this point”.

General manager of Avtomobilist Leonid Vaisfeld: ”Why do we need a tournament like this? For young players? Those guys have two-way contracts so they would get to play anyways because they would be sent to MHL or VHL.”

This is one of the most questionable things KHL has ever hosted, you would ask why? Well it is hard to understand why would league host playoff games for teams that haven’t qualified for the playoffs, making them earn more than the actual playoff teams earn, raising the Hope Cup value above the main trophy – Gagarin Cup.

The Hope Cup was first organised in the spring of 2013, when the trophy was won by Dinamo Riga, while this spring Omsk Avangard were the champions of Hope Cup.

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