Quoting: vmach
Kahun, has German citizenship, but he is CZ.
Yes, Panarin did buy Kaner a Rolex, but this is because Kaner went out of his way to help him get his bonus, so did the coach, not sure about GM thou. (Kane and Bread are friends and had chemistry and that is not small thing). He never hid his dislike about being traded to CBJ, he is a professional and he wants to succeed and he knows business is business, but if you read between the lines, its obvious. Given the right circumstances would he come back? Probably. But we are not even talking about him, we are talking about others that are looking to come in.
Yes all players you mentioned, did make money one way or another, but there are some kids that want to come here to play on the team they like, not just to play in the NHL. No everyone is out for the money, otherwise Mikheyev would have never picked cap strapped TOR. (most good Suiss and KHL players make more than ELC anyways).
Just saying it will be hard to get new talent to sign, if CHI gets this sign-and-flip reputation, cause they have many options on the table, thats all.
The players that Chicago has signed as European free agents came to Chicago because they believed they'd get a real shot at playing games in the NHL. And they all did.
Panarin, Kempny, Kampf, Rutta, Kahun, Gustafsson, Raanta, Tikhonov, Rasmussen, even Nilsson got 2 games and he's a bottom 6 AHL guy. And these are just players in the last 5 years.
Tikhonov and Rasmussen are not NHL caliber players and probably never were. But they all got a real shot at playing in the NHL with the Hawks.
Kempny had a rough go but ultimately the Hawks traded him into a position where he could excel and he has and got paid. Rutta got paid by the Hawks for no reason last year and then was traded. Raanta is a starter in the NHL now. Gustafsson struggled to get a lot of ice time under Q for reasons everyone is aware of, but he still played 41 games his first year.
The rest of the players are going to have decent and well paying careers in the NHL. That is what players are looking for when they come over from Europe as UFA.