Sergei Zubov to Russia

As per tsn.ca

After a 16-year NHL career, Sergei Zubov is heading home as the 39-year old blueliner has signed with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL.
Zubov, who has spent his last 12 seasons with the Stars, only played
10 games with Dallas in 2008-09 because of a hip injury that required
surgery. In those 10 contests, he recorded four assists.
The Moscow-native was drafted by the New York Rangers in 1990 with
the 85th overall draft pick. Known as one of the better puck-moving
defenceman and power play specialists of the last decade, Zubov has 152
goals and 619 assists in 1068 career games.
He helped the Rangers capture the Stanley Cup in 1994 then helped
lead the Dallas Stars to their first Cup in franchise history in 1999.
He also captured an Gold medal for the Commonwealth of Independent
States at the 1992 Olympics.

Holy smokes! Really?

I thought for sure he would be able to get a contract. He would have had to take a pay cut though...

Geez...big player going to Russia here.

Yeah, this one is strange to me. But, whatever he wants to do I guess. I'm assuming he didn't want to be in the NHL anymore, cause I'm sure a team would have paid him nicely.

The KHL is loving the cap in the NHL these days...

All the players squeezed out are heading for the KHL.

This guy could have signed for anything... obviously he wanted too much. Good player, but if he can't find a job in the NHL where many teams desperately need a player of his skill, then obviously them oney is the issue.

You assume he didn't make a conscious decision to go back his home country of Russia?

I think he looked at 4 million dollar offers here in the NHL, then looked at a relatively tax free 3 million dollars from the KHL and decided it was time to go home.

shabbs wrote:The KHL is loving the cap in the NHL these days...

All the players squeezed out are heading for the KHL.

It's true - and it's going to get better for the KHL from here on out. Until the KHL runs into a cap of it's own called bankruptcy.

He spent 12 years or more in North America, and all of a sudden he';s had enough? Maybe he did want to go home, but seems odd to uproot a family that has grown up here and move them to Russia.

Dash wrote:He spent 12 years or more in North America, and all of a sudden he';s had enough? Maybe he did want to go home, but seems odd to uproot a family that has grown up here and move them to Russia.

He's getting older. Sounds feasible?

The guy just turned 39 and had hip surgery. Why do (Dash) you think he could sign for anything? Another 39 year old puck-moving, powerplay quarterback defenseman is sitting on the sidelines as well. I'd bet both would be snatched up in March, but then the situation would be different -- smaller cap hit, fewer games to run the risk of injury.

This guy has won the Cup wit two different teams, as well as an Olympic Gold medal. He's got nothing left to prove. Why not go home for one last year, especially when you will make more money for less work?