Winger Eugeni Artukhin rejected Tampa's last offer and has signed on for
more money in his native Russia. The same goes for Russian defenceman
Denis Grebeshkov and Finnish winger Sean Bergenheim of the Islanders. All three will earn more money this season playing for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.
"In
Russia the taxes are 13 per cent, so it's relatively speaking
tax-free," explained [Mark] Gandler, whose firm International Sports
Advisors has some 25 NHL players, half of them Russian. "They also
usually have bonuses on top of everything, a free apartment, a free car,
basically perks."
