After finding out that Edmonton Oilers prospect Nail Yakupov had been denied a transfer from the Edmonton Oilers to his hometown team, Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, Yahoo Sports' Dmitry Chesnokov took a look into the sticky wicket that is the fact that the Interational Ice Hockey Federation has to approve these kinds of player moves, and as of yet, the IIHF seems to not want to tread upon the NHL's toes by allowing locked out players to pursue employment in Europe:

An IIHF transfer card is needed for any player participating in any tournament under the IIHF umbrella. It is sort of a permit to play. The KHL and every hockey league in Europe is under the IIHF umbrella. The KHL had its run-ins with the international hockey governing body before, when the IIHF either refused or delayed issuing transfer cards, like in the case with Alex Radulov. On certain occasions, these tensions led to KHL threatening to leave the organization.

"The IIHF is not allowing Yakupov to play. The transfer card has not been sent from Switzerland (the IIHF headquarters)," Neftekhimik director Rafik Yakubov told Sovetsky Sport's Pavel Lysenkov. "I can't even imagine what this is related to. Perhaps the international hockey federation doesn't want to feud with the NHL and is waiting when they receive an approval from there. The negotiations are ongoing and we were told that there will be no requests. So, Nail cannot play against Torpedo. He is already in Nizhnekamsk, practicing with the team and is ready to play even tomorrow."