New Delhi, June 8 -- He bought out the final year of his deal. That is the detail that matters. When Alexandar Georgiev's agent confirmed his client's departure from Spartak Moscow this week, he specified it was not a mutual release - Georgiev paid to leave, a signal of intent that most NHL teams will at least pause to consider.

return to the NHL next season. "The goal is to return to the NHL," Romanov said. "Alexandar expressed the desire to try himself in the NHL again. There was such an agreement." The KHL confirmed the contract termination in a league announcement. Georgiev had one year remaining on his two-year deal with the Moscow club.

What the announcement does not resolve is whether any NHL organization will offer him a meaning...