A weird development emerged Friday afternoon, with a bunch of the most prominent hockey agents active with Russian players being basically banned from Russia and the KHL:
The speculation is that this has to do with more Russian players leaving for North America — and not just for NHL contracts like Nikita Zaitsev, Ilya Mikheyev or Alexander Barabanov. There are an increasing number of Russian players who leave for junior leagues in North America. The Toronto Maple Leafs and other NHL teams have taken advantage of both free agent Russians as well as drafting the ones playing in North American junior leagues in recent years.