Jump through hoops to get him over here? What are you even talking about? It’s well documented we tried to get him over here years ago and couldn’t. Not sure why you can’t admit that one?
But really in the end it’s actually not a lot of money! That’s your whole point and it’s literally nothing compared to what most teams are paying their goalies, Florida and Knight included! If we were in a cap crunch and really needed every last penny or were even legitimate playoff contenders then you can make an argument. But we’re far from that so the risk is next to nothing.
I mean if they do just want to give us Knight for pennies then trust me I’m all for it but I’m simply making the case that they won’t just give him away at this point, which is reasonable.
Your scenario? Not very reasonable actually to imagine one of the best run teams in the league to sell so low on a guy his age with that much upside.
We didn’t lose a playoff spot because of anything other than the Hart situation completely screwing us over. We were sellers at the deadline for a reason.
Either way I’m glad we’re picking at #12 instead of closer to 20. Good for the rebuild.
You are obviously very clueless about how Russia works. It’s all about money there, has been for a long time. Laughable you can’t admit that. I’m not saying it’s a huge factor or anything was just something to note that it doesn’t hurt hooking up the guy that’s going to help get Michkov over before his contract is up, which can be difficult in certain situations.
I don’t care there are a bunch of no votes, people love to hate on the Flyers. I love it. I also never claimed it was normal. This is one of the weirdest situations with a player from overseas I think I’ve ever seen before.

"You are obviously very clueless about how Russia works. It’s all about money there,"
I mean this really says it all.
you think everyone knows nothing and you are some grand sitting on a pillar talking down to people" are you an ivy league school professor?
Well here is one for you professor. You don't need a legitimate way to bribe people in Russia. You can just send a check to their back account, no questions asked.
I know you think the rest of us don't know how it "works" over there, but clearly you're a little behind the 8 ball.

You just paid a military age Russian a ton of money to help him flee russia. You can't figure out you didn't need to do that?
Don't really know what to say there. You should have offered him league min and let him earn it. If he says no, cool, stay and get drafted. Good luck with the drones.

You just don't seem to get what everyone voting above realizes. I'm done trying to help you figure it out.

Nothing wrong with doing things nice and clean like Danny did here though. We likely would just write a check if it was that simple. But it’s not.
Anyways, you might have to overpay some guys (see how I’m admitting again that we’re overpaying?) to get them to come over. I think you probably know this but just don’t want to admit it for some reason.
Shipachayov, Gusev, Panarin to name a few weren’t coming over on a league minimum prove it contract. Have to give them comparable to what they would get overseas or they just won’t come over.
It’s not that complicated really and again it’s not even that much money. Hell the Leafs had to give Jonas Gustavsson like 2.5m to come over too and that was like 15 years ago. So quit acting like this is unprecedented or something.

Shipachayov, Gusev, Panarin weren't trying to escape a war that has 500k dead or seriously wounded russians.

Stop pretending there is anything normal about it. You have it in your head they NEEDED to do this. They didn't.
You'd be a horrible negotiator.

He’s not trying to escape a war either there buddy lol he played 50 games in the KHL last year and could sign again for a comparable amount if he didn’t want to pursue the NHL.
You are just rambling at this point, at least try to make a little sense. The war in Ukraine has nothing to do with this now, no need to talk about casualties my goodness man.
You need to get over this idea that it's possible to get top proven players from across the pond that are over 25 years old for a minimum NHL contract. It doesn’t happen. I gave you plenty of examples but you’re still stuck thinking it’s some how different, it’s not man.