Sorry Dobber but your projection of an open season on contracts is patently incorrect, at least on the KHL side. The KHL's equivalent of their board of governors met yesterday and all teams unanimously approved what they call "a moratorium on offers to NHL players, except for those who are free agents, without a contract", effective July 10th, and until the memorandum ratifying the agreement arrived at last week is formally signed, no later than August 1st.
http://www.allhockey.ru/news/33438/In other words, the signing of last week's agreement, which was supposed to be on Monday, wasn't, but the KHL unilaterally decided to uphold the agreement until it is formally signed later this month. So, no open season on NHL contracts from the KHL side.
They are contesting the applicability of this to the Radulov case because they claim the Radulov signing was done prior to July 10th. This will likely be decided in legal battle (which I believe they will lose). But it doesn't at all mean they are throwing away the agreement.
What happens if the formal memorandum is not signed after August 1st, I don't know. Nor do I know why it wasn't signed on Monday. It seems as if the Russians are trying to show that the reason for not signing it Monday did not come from their end. Of course, it may have been that the reason for the agreement not being signed was the disagreement over whether or not it applies to Radulov, but that's just a speculation on my part. As far as I know it may also equally be something technical ...
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