The news is in for the Eastern front and the newest threat to American sports is the Continental Hockey League. Sure the KHL (Kontinentalnaya Hokkeynaya Liga in Russian) sounds harmless enough, but the National Hockey League can never be too careful-even though they more often times appear to be careless.

Just kidding the KHL is the new Russian hockey league that is replacing the Russian Super League. I think I will call the KHL the former-Russian Super League. Yes. The league is Russia’s newest attempt to rival the NHL. The problem is that the league is in the frozen land known as Russia. Yes I know three months of the year are supposed to be nice, but the rest of the year is filled with chills.

The league may appeal to Russian stars in the NHL, but not enough nearly enough to the rest of the league. Sure, veteran free agents like Chris Simon and John Grahame may have heard about the $12.5 million offered to Pittsburgh Penguin star Evgeni Malkin (he turned it down) and said they would consider it, but I do not see a mass exodus from cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles to go to Moscow, Irkutsk (in Siberia), and Kazan.

I understand that Russia is a large nation and that not every city is in buried in three feet of snow year long, but many are. This may end up being better organized and become something like the ABA to the NBA. The NBA still dominated while nostalgic tales of the ABA were told that forgo that the league was never very popular, had few star players, and was mostly notable for its publicity stunts than the quality of the games.

So, fans of the franchises like the New York Rangers need not worry about the upstart league half a world away. I am sure their will be somebody at the bars who warns that the end is near for the NHL, but ignore him. He’s crazy. Just give him a sandwich board at the end of the night and put him out on the street corner for the cops to pick up.