Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

Oilers lose prospect Vladimir Tkachev due to technicality

09/30/2014 at 9:56pm EDT

This certainly sucks for Edmonton. From TSN:

Vladimir Tkachev's entry level contract signed with the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday has been ruled ineligible by the National Hockey League.

According to NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, Tkachev wasn't qualified to sign a contract as he is still eligible for June's NHL Entry Draft.

Players who go undrafted are eligible to sign only if they played a full year in North America. While waiting for his transfer, Tkachev played two games with Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League and spent the remainder of the season with the Moncton Wildcats of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Tkachev will go back into the draft after this season.

The 18-year-old appeared in three preseason games with the Oilers, posting three assists and a plus three rating.

Update: The Score's Thomas Drance has more on the situation:

"There's a subsection in the CBA that defines prior season. When we looked at it, it looked like Vlad fulfilled all the criteria to sign a Standard Player's Contract," Oilers general manager Craig MacTavish explained Tuesday. "He went through the draft - 30 teams had a chance to draft him - and he played the prior season in North America, which he did in Moncton.

"But when you go down two paragraphs further, in another subsection of article 8, it defines 'prior season' as a complete season. Vlad had played some games in the KHL and that went unnoticed."

Continued MacTavish: "I feel bad for the player because he played so well and he was so excited to be offered an NHL contract."

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

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