Carolina Hurricanes forward Alexander Semin may stay in the Russia-based KHL if the NHL lockout does not end in a generous enough deal for players, he suggested to R-Sport on Wednesday.
After the last NHL lockout in 2004-05, Semin stayed in Russia the next season amid a lengthy legal dispute over his contract and Russian military service obligations.
"I'll look at what contract they actually sign. I like it here overall,” he said.
Semin’s fellow Russian Ilya Kovalchuk has been another to suggest quitting the NHL if the eventual deal is not to his liking, telling R-Sport last month that many stars could abandon North America.
Semin signed for his hometown junior team late last month before switching two weeks later to Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, one of the KHL’s strongest teams.
The forward is nowhere near his playing form despite spending over a month playing in Russia and scoring one goal and four assists in five KHL games, he said.
“Yes, I’m scoring points, it’s good and it’s nice, but you shouldn’t get fixated on that. Anyway, I’m still very far from my optimum form,” Semin said.
“I didn’t play for a long time. And in order to get to your previous level, you need to play decently, in general.”
Semin said he may stay in the KHL if he is unimpressed when the NHL and the players’ union sign a new collective bargaining agreement to end the lockout.
