UFA Antropov leaves to play in KHL

Unrestricted free agent Nik Antropov, who played for the Winnipeg Jets last season, is reportedly bound for the KHL.

Another NHLer bolting east, or another NHL career coming to a close?

Unrestricted free agent Nikolai Antropov, who scored six goals and added 12 assists in 40 games played for the Winnipeg Jets last season, is bound for the KHL.

Antropov signed a two-year deal with Astana Barys, a KHL club based in his native Kazakhstan, the team announced Thursday.

The 33-year-old centre racked up 465 points in 788 NHL games during his 13-year career, during which he played for the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers and the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets franchise.


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Drafted 10th overall by the Leafs in by the Leafs in 1998, Antropov enjoyed his best season was with the Thrashers. He scored 24 goals for the club in 2009-10, the first campaign of his four-year, $16.25-million deal with the Thrashers/Jets that expired in July.

During the lockout, Antropov scored 16 points in 26 games for Barys.

Antropov’s departure to the KHL follows that of former Jets teammate Alexei Ponikarovsky earlier this week.

 

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