Winger Branko Radivojevic, who spent the past two seasons with the Wild, has signed a two-year deal to play with Spartak in the Russian Premiere League.

— Star Tribune

Also following the money was Dmitri Patzold, who played all of 44 minutes in the NHL last season with San Jose and signed with Vityaz Podolsk Chekhov.

Radivojevic isn't a big name, but he did play about 15 minutes a game in 2007-08 as one of the Wild's top checkers. Numbers haven't been made available, but given he was one of the NHL's youngest unrestricted free agents, it stands to reason he took a deal in the new KHL for far more than the $680,000 he made with Minnesota this season.

Patzold, meanwhile, is a 25-year-old career minor-league netminder, so there's not much of a loss there for the Sharks. The AHL will likely be the league that most feels the pinch from Russia's move to buy up more top talent.

Also changing leagues overseas are Esa Pirnes and Kirby Law, who will go from Sweden and Switzerland to Russia, while Ducks prospect Jason King signed in Germany.
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