‘Take his passport’: Minnesota fans advise Kaprizov not to return to Russia
“I’ve always wanted to try my hand at other championships,” Hoffman said. – It’s just that before there were no offers and there were circumstances that stopped me at that time. Of course, the priority has always been the international scene – the matches of the World Championships and the Olympic Games.
As for the choice of Germany, everything is simple. A representative of the German league contacted me directly. It was three weeks before the conclusion of a new contract with the KHL. Before that, I worked in Germany as part of an exchange. There is such a program in all the leagues, we judged in Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, as well as all the European judges who came on exchange, including in the KHL. In Germany, I remember the interesting atmosphere of the championship: many foreign specialists, players from North America and other European countries. For the future, I will immediately answer the question about “not the strongest championship”. When I judged there, it didn’t seem like it at all.
When I spoke with the league representative, everything went smoothly. At the very first question, he asked me if I had a contract with the KHL for the next season. That is to say, he wasn’t going to offer me another one if he had one. At that time he was not there, people were interested and asked me if I wanted to work in the German championship.
– It turns out that you were followed for a long time to make this offer?
– I can’t say exactly. In addition to me, other former KHL referees will work there: Odins, Ansons and Frano. I didn’t ask any questions, but all the judges have contact with each other, so it was not difficult to reach me. The fact is that the DEL league has changed its vector of development: it relies on European referees, and not on American referees, who had been working there for several seasons.
“Sakhalin” suspended from participation in the Asian Hockey League for political reasons
— Since February of this year, many people have emigrated from Russia. Was there a political factor in your decision?
– No, I have no intention of expressing disagreements, steps with this decision. I am not a political immigrant, I just received a job offer abroad. I travel alone, for work, without family. Additionally, many hockey players and other athletes are seen to compete overseas. And they don’t ask about politics. I understand that the departure of the judge is a little different from the usual situation. But, in my opinion, the judges are also the same athletes in some ways, they also set new goals and can work in other leagues. After all, referees have this practice too. For example, Swedish referee Markus Wieneborg was the first to work under contract in the NHL. Our referee Yevgeny Romasko worked abroad for several seasons, he returned safely to the KHL and continues to work in our league. So I’m not even a pioneer in this.
Kaprizov returned to the United States: the “Minnesota” striker after the scandalous story will no longer want to come to Russia?
Source: Sport
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