The IIHF announced Friday that the transfers of all six players looking to move between the NHL and Russia's new Continental Hockey League (KHL) are under investigation.

The NHLPA believes the IIHF does not have the authority to suspend the contracts of Alex Radulov, Nikita Filatov, Viktor Tikhonov, Jason Krog, Tomas Mojzis and Fedor Fedorov.

"Yesterday's announcement by the IIHF that they have suspended certain players from international competition has no basis in fact or law, and constitutes a violation of the rights of these players," NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly said Saturday.

"The affected players are being unfairly singled out in a dispute between the NHL and the KHL over whether to respect each others' contracts.

"The NHLPA's strong objection to this unilateral action by the IIHF has been registered, and unless this action is reversed, the NHLPA will consider all legal options available."

There is no formal transfer agreement between the NHL and KHL, but both sides have agreed to honour the contracts of the other.

The two sides came to an agreement on July 10 that temporarily ended the threat of players being poached by big-money offers.

The agreement to respect existing contracts came after KHL teams made offers in June to lure Evgeni Malkin from the final year of his contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Russian league founder Alexander Medvedev was nominated to a working group set to meet in September to create an international transfer agreement.

The new agreement will replace the one that expired in June after six European leagues withdrew. Russia withdrew three years ago.

With files from the Canadian Press

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