Apparently "The Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden, Germany, Slovakia and Switzerland signed the 2007-2011 deal between the IIHF member associations, their leagues and the NHL." (as stated on TSN.ca)
Russia didn't sign it.
The deal is for transfer fees and sets limits on how many players can go from the European teams to the NHL and what the cost is to the NHL.
Because Russia didn't sign the deal the NHL will honour Russian contracts, but the NHL will have no cost to sign Free Agents. Apparently, also the ability for players to "quit" their teams in Russia is quite simple as well.
One thing of note though in the agreement was this last line of the article "The agreement also regulates the release of NHL players to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and the world championships."
Because Russia didn't sign the agreement I guess this means that Russian players on NHL teams run the risk of not being able to play for their country because they would need to get a deal from their team in their contract. It is THEORETICALLY possible that an NHL team cold say "No" to a Russian player playing in the Olympics or the World Championships thus depriving the Russian National team of a potential "tide turning" player. Theoretically, the NHL teams could really take Russia out of the Olympics in Hockey.
IIHF deal ratified
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