As the NHL door closes, one has once again opened in Russia.
Former Vancouver Canucks forward Jake Virtanen has signed a one-year contract with the KHL's Spartak Moscow, joining a legion of former NHL talents to leave for Russia while embroiled in controversy — in Virtanen's case, serious allegations of sexual assault.
In court back in June, Virtanen denied allegations that he assaulted a woman in a hotel in West Vancouver in September of 2017, ignoring "pleads" for him to stop. He stated in the court document that the pair had consensual sex, denying the woman "expressed any indication, verbal or physical, that she did not want to engage in physical activity.