The usually very knowledgeable Hockey Rodent misses the mark rather badly in a recent rant when discussing Alexander Ovechkin's bargaining power:

Consider the Van Ryn Rule. If the initial offer to Ovechkin isn't to his satisfaction, he can hold out for a year and become an unrestricted free agent.

This is so off the mark that I'm surprised that it came from the Hockey Rodent and not Bruce Garrioch, Chris Stevenson or Al Strachan.

The Van Ryn loophole allows a player drafted from the NCAA that leaves school to play in Canadian major junior hockey to become an unrestricted free agent. Clearly Ovechkin has no chance to fall into this category. He's not going to leave Russia to go to an American college, much less then leave college to play in the OHL. In fact Europeans have less leverage then anyone taken in the NHL entry draft. A player that plays in Europe has his rights held for an indeterminate period by the NHL franchise that drafts him. A player drafted out of Canadian major junior hockey can have his rights held, at most, for two years by the team that drafts him.

Of course, all this could change in the new CBA but I can't see Ovechkin having much bargaining power in dictating who drafts him.