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Fearful symmetry? Flyers free agent goalie Antero Niittymäki is reportedly about to sign with Atlant Mytishchi of the K.H.L., where he will replace Ray Emery, who last month signed with … the Flyers. What immortal hand or eye?…

The notion of what amounts to a Niittymäki-for-Emery swap compels us to look at the player traffic back and forth between the N.H.L. and K.H.L. As you’ll remember, last season that traffic was highly contentious as the new Russian league, then flush with money, flexed its muscles over past grievances with the N.H.L. The breaking point came when Alexander Radulov jumped his Nashville contract to join Salavat Yualev, a move that the K.H.L. justified because there was (and continues to be) no transfer agreement between the Russian and North American leagues.

Things have settled down since, with both leagues vowing not to sign away players under contract — and with K.H.L. owners and sponsors suffering from financial shortfalls brought about by last year’s drop in world oil prices. This summer’s traffic across the ocean has been much less controversial — with one major exception. [

The transfer period still has a month and a half left to go, and already it has included some big names. Below, players who have switched from the K.H.L. to the N.H.L., or vice versa, since the end of the N.H.L. regular season:



7/9: G Antero Niittymäki

From Philadelphia Flyers (NHL) to Atlant Mytishchi (KHL) 7/8: F Jiri Hudler

From Detroit Red Wings (NHL) to Dinamo Moscow (KHL) 7/6: D Joel Kwiatkowski

From SKA St. Petersburg (KHL) to Atlanta Thrashers (NHL) *** 7/5: D Steve McCarthy

From Salavat Yulaev Ufa (KHL) to Anaheim Ducks (NHL) 6/25: F Sergei Fedorov

From Washington Capitals (NHL) to Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL)

6/10: G Ray Emery

From Atlant Mytishchi (KHL) to Philadelphia Flyers (NHL) 6/9: F Viktor Kozlov

From Washington Capitals (NHL) to Salavat Yulaev Ufa (KHL) 5/29: F Marek Zagrapan

From Buffalo Sabres (NHL) to Severstal Cherepovets (KHL) 5/1: G Mikael Tellqvist

From Buffalo Sabres (NHL) to Ak Bars Kazan (KHL) 4/30: F Richard Zednik

From Florida Panthers (NHL) to Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL)



*** SKA is protesting the Thrashers’ signing of Kwiatkowski, contending that the defenceman signed a two-year contract with the St. Petersburg club after playing for Severstal Cherepovets last season. As noted on the blog Kukla’s Korner, quoting a report from the site Russia Today, SKA are saying that the signing breaks the “gentlemen’s agreement” between the K.H.L. and N.H.L. not to sign away players under contract. SKA’s president is Alexander Medvedev, who is also president of the K.H.L. and Russia’s representative to the I.I.H.F. — and the key figure in last summer’s transfer disputes between the N.H.L. and K.H.L.