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Letowski inks deal in Russia
By Brody Mark
Thursday, August 7, 2008

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A disheartened Trevor Letowski has decided to try his hand overseas.
After waiting a month for a solid NHL offer, the Thunder Bay native signed a one-year deal with HC Astana of the newly formed Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) based out of Russia.
Letowski had played the last nine seasons in the NHL.
“It had become a little frustrating here,” said Letowski Wednesday afternoon. “Anyone who has been a free agent at the NHL level knows that after July 1, you‘re talking to your agent pretty much every day. There‘s different things here and there and you get your hopes up and then another day it‘s bad news, another day it‘s good news.”
The Astana club is based out of Kazakhstan and up until this season had been a member of the Russian Vysshaya Liga. Terms of the deal were not released but according to his agent Paul Krepelka, Letowski is slated to make more than the equivalent of a million dollars.
When asked for specific numbers, Letowski laughed and offered: “It‘s a pay raise, let‘s just say that.”
“I still believe he‘s an NHL player and I think he will still play in the NHL,” added Krepelka, “but there weren‘t a lot of offers that we deemed worthy of him.”
Letowski said it was about a week and a half ago that he and Krepelka started to give the KHL a hard look. The two decided to gauge interest in the 5-foot-10 centre and it was Astana who immediately took the bait.
It took five days for him to agree to the deal, saying a contract in-hand looked pretty good compared to what he had.
“They made a real good offer and there wasn‘t anything concrete over here,” he said. “I was just starting to get nervous and didn‘t want to wait a whole lot longer so I decided this would be quite the experience.”
The KHL replaces the Russian Super League, which was founded in 1996, and will be comprised of 24 teams. Expansion has already been discussed with the league looking to add teams from Ukraine, Sweden, Finland, Belarus and Czech Republic next season.
Credibility was given to the league when they announced the signings of former NHL stars Jaromir Jagr (Avangard Omsk), Ray Emery (Atlant Mytishchi) and Jozef Stumpel (Astana) for this season.
If the league succeeds in its first season, Krepelka sees a lot more NHL players making the trip.
“I think this year is going to go a long way in determining how much of a threat, or how much of an exodus there will be to the Kontinental Hockey League,” said Krepelka.
Because of the lucrative contract, Letowski expects to see a lot more playing time than he had become used to in the NHL. Playing in all situations is something he got used to during the lockout when he played in Switzerland, so he‘s not sweating it.
“You always put pressure on yourself and get thrown in different roles,” he said. “I have no regrets in whatever teams have asked me to do. I just try and fill that role and it‘s kept me around long enough. As a hockey player, you want to play important minutes.”
Letowski has played 616 career NHL games while recording 201 points, making stops in Phoenix, Vancouver, Columbus and Carolina. A one-year deal was signed in the hopes of getting back in the NHL after this season.
“I would never sign for more than one year, because I definitely want to see how it goes,” he said.
Astana wanted Letowski to arrive sooner as their season begins on Sept. 2 and training camp is underway. However, visa issues still need to be worked out and he wanted to make the trip early next week with his wife, Amy.
“This isn‘t a bad alternative, but it‘s not the No. 1 choice,” said Krepelka. “These are the cards that we were dealt and we‘re going to try and take advantage of this.”
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