NHL Wants to Move Past Russia, But the Fix Is Messy

The league would like to turn the page on Russia, but that is easier said than done when the politics, the optics, and the hockey all keep showing up at the same meeting. This is the kind of file that makes front offices grimace because there is no clean win, only a series of uncomfortable trade-offs. The NHL can want normalcy all it wants, but the baggage attached to Russia has a way of following the sport right back into the rink.