The European hockey scene may not have been able to pry Evgeni Malkin away from the NHL, but they didn't go away empty-handed either, with a few notable names spurning North American for overseas locales.

Topping the defection list was Jaromir Jagr, while the New York Rangers, Jagr's former club, also watched Martin Straka head east. You would think those losses would knock the Rangers down a few pegs in the Stanley Cup futures odds, but over at they still clock in at a respectable 12/1 to raise Lord Stanley's mug.

New York likely avoided an odds drop by restocking the cupboard with Wade Redden and Markus Naslund.

Other former NHLers who followed Straka and Jagr's lead to European cash included Josef Stumpel, Chris Simon, Alexander Radulov, and Ray Emery. It didn't look like Stumpel, Simon, and Emery were going to garner a whole lot of interest in the NHL, but the move of up-and-coming Radulov was an interesting one, and not just because he was coming off a 26-goal season.

Radulov had one year left on his contract with Nashville, but preferred playing at home in Russia and made the change last week. However, that change apparently violated the new agreement between the NHL and the KHL. The result was Radulov being suspended by the IIHF on Friday.

How the Radulov situation eventually works itself out could set a precedent for how players view both the NHL and the KHL in the future.