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Lightning may get its top draft pick sooner

Alexander Svitov is moved away from the Russian coach who blocked his transfer.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO
© St. Petersburg Times,
published December 12, 2001

CALGARY -- Alexander Svitov, the Lightning's top pick in the June draft, apparently will play in the World Junior Championships, thanks to the Russian military.

Tampa Bay assistant general manager Jay Feaster said the intervention could make it easier for the No. 3 overall pick to join the Lightning organization before his two-year military obligation is fulfilled in December 2002.

"At least," Feaster said Tuesday, "there is an opportunity to have a dialogue."

There has been no dialogue with Anatoly Bardin, president and coach of Avangard Omsk, the elite league team for which Svitov played.

Agent Jay Grossman said Bardin was going to forbid Svitov from playing in the Junior Championships, Dec. 26-Jan. 3 in the Czech Republic, unless he signed a letter disavowing the three-year, $3.6-million contract he signed with Tampa Bay.

The breakthrough came when the military transferred Svitov, and Stanislav Chistov, the Mighty Ducks' first-round pick, to a military barracks in Moscow.

Grossman, the agent for both players, said the action came after the military began investigating Bardin for stockpiling players he said were in the military but were not performing military duties.

The NHL's agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation on the transfer of European players says only military service supersedes a signed NHL contract.

It is unclear what team Svitov, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound center from Omsk, Siberia, will play for after the Junior Championships, though a good bet is the Central Red Army team.

Grossman said he has a good relationship with that team's management. Feaster said the Lightning will explore getting Svitov to next season's training camp.

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