Kontinental Hockey League Cuts Salary Cap For Next Season By $8M

The Kontinental Hockey League has lowered the salary cap from 1.39B rubles ($40.4M) to 1.1B rubles ($32M) per squad for next season. Squads that go over that figure will be subject to a 20% “luxury tax” on any extra spendings. According to KHL President Alexander Medvedev, who announced the new salary cap on the air of Sport FM radio, another difference will be that the cap will apply to all players. Last season, some players who moved to the KHL from the NHL were exempt from the cap.

PAY VS. PERFORMANCE: Incidentally, there has been no direct correlation between the salary budget and performance of KHL squads. SKA St. Petersburg, which has the highest salary budget, has never won the league's main trophy, the Gagarin Cup. Last season's Gagarin Cup winner, Metallurg Magnitogorsk, had the league's third biggest salary budget and the runner-up, Lev Prague, the ninth.

Vladimir Kozlov is a writer in Moscow.

