The Kontinental Hockey League is not the laughingstock it used to be to the NHL. While there is little question that the top professional league in Russia is an overall inferior product to the NHL, that hasn’t stopped some top Russian players recently from bolting the NHL for their homeland.
There is a chance Avalanche defenseman Nikita Zadorov could be next.
Although sources tell BSNDenver that Zadorov prefers to re-sign with the Avalanche as a restricted free agent, if it comes down to pure dollars (or, in this case, Rubles), he very likely could make more in the KHL in the short term.