Much like the Spanish Inquisition, no one expected to see Russian forward Kirill Petrov suddenly one Monday morning come close to escaping the KHL, a league whose chief weapon is surprise and fear, whose two chief weapons are fear and surprise and ruthless efficiency, whose three chief weapons are... you get the point.
Petrov had become a forgotten man among Islanders prospects; drafted an eternity ago in 2008, he was tethered to a KHL contract, then had a health issue in his first trip to North America, then had a sick mother to care for, making the idea of staying in Russia the easy call.