Alas, There is Hope: Varlamov Unsigned

At around 11:15 Thursday night, 13 hours before the NHL free agency period is scheduled to begin, Russian hockey reporter Dmitry Chesnokov tweeted that, in fact, Lokomotiv Yaroslav has NOT exchanged Semyon Varlamov's rights to SKA St. Petersburg, as was reported earlier today by Sports.ru.  Apparently, Varlamov's agent has stated that his client will not play for Lokomotiv, one of the poorer clubs in the KHL, as his primary reason for leaving the NHL would be money.  However, Loko has remained firm on their stance that they have no intention of trading Varlamov's rights to any team.
This whole thing is clearly, for lack of a better word, nuts.  Friday is going to be a very interesting day.