Russia lures its hockey talent home

“Less and less players are going to the N.H.L. and more and more are coming back here,” Yashin said in an interview in English after the game. “From my perspective, there is a competition between Russian clubs and the N.H.L. for the best product on the ice.”

They are seeking to reclaim a sport viewed here as a national tradition that has been crippled, many say, by the pilfering of hockey stars over the last decade and a half by the N.H.L.

Now, say these hockey patriots, it is Russia’s turn to have the best. The country’s professional league expects to catch and surpass the N.H.L. as the world’s premiere hockey league. To do that, it must keep its best homegrown talent at home — or lure it back home.

Today’s stratospheric energy prices have helped return a semblance of Russia’s former pre-eminence, and large state companies like the natural gas behemoth Gazprom, the state-owned arms exporter Rosoboronexport and others with hockey fans and former players on their boards have started pumping money into Russia’s professional hockey league, the Superliga. They are luring back players from leagues abroad, while persuading others to remain with the teams that groomed them from childhood.