Defecting Soviet Hockey Player in U.S. : Member of World Championship Team Seeks Career in NHL

Alexander Mogilny, on the verge of stardom with the Soviet world championship team, flew to the United States today for what he hoped would be a career in the National Hockey League.

Soon after his arrival from Stockholm, the Soviet athlete was interviewed at John F. Kennedy Airport by the FBI, according to an airport spokesman.

“They do that with all defectors,” said Tom Middlemiss of the Port Authority.

Sabres Own Rights

Middlemiss said Mogilny was accompanied on the flight by officials of the Buffalo Sabres, adding that he did not know which ones. The Sabres own NHL rights to the player.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman said Mogilny, who helped the Soviet Union to its 21st world hockey title last week, was granted a U.S. visa Thursday. He reportedly planned to fly to Buffalo, N.Y., after clearing customs.

The NHL was getting ready for Mogilny, but a spokesman said he had no information “at this present moment” whether the Sabres had offered the Soviet player a contract.

“We are collecting all the facts regarding Mogilny leaving his team and also awaiting advice from United States State Department and the Canadian Department of External Affairs as to what effect, if any, his military position places on the situation, vis-a-vis his ability to settle in either country and travel back and forth,” said Gary Meagher, the NHL’s director of media relations, in Montreal.

Mogilny is a junior lieutenant in the Soviet Army. That adds a further diplomatic complication: Soviet authorities could view the incident as desertion.

INS Comment Declined

The regional director of the Immigration of Naturalization Service in Buffalo, Benedict Ferro, said his office is aware of the situation, but he declined further comment.

Presumably it would be through the immigration service in Buffalo that efforts would be made to grant Mogilny permission to live in the United States.

The defection, the first by a Soviet national hockey player, cast a shadow on U.S.-Soviet hockey relations and gave an ironic twist to the latest Soviet championship.