Today a new report has confirmed that 7 former NHLers including infamous former 2018 Canadian World Junior team member Michael McLeod have been released. The regular season in Europe for hockey begins much sooner than it does for the NHL. With that said the KHL in Russia is nearly 20 games into their season. Today KHL team <a href='https://en.khl.ru/clubs/barys/' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>Barys Astana</a> confirmed they were releasing all of their import players which included 7 former NHL players. <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/tonyandrock/status/1846981582394978708'> </a></blockquote></div> <div align='center'><blockquote class='twitter-tweet' data-lang='en'><a href='https://twitter.com/HockeyNewsHub/status/1846858201935106444'> </a></blockquote></div> The most notable name on the list is Michael McLeod. He <a href='https://www.hockeylatest.com/nhl/news/convicted-player-michael-mcleod-rumored-to-leave-nhl-and-sign-in-khl' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>came to the KHL after facing legal charges</a> due to the 2018 Canadian World Junior team case. Of the rest of the players Will Butcher, Nathan Beaulieu, and Wade Allison spent the most time in the NHL. Both Will Butch and Nathan Beaulieu played time for the Buffalo Sabres amongst other teams. Wade Allison spent his entire time in the NHL with the Philadelphia Flyers. With these moves being made by Barys Astana the question is why would the team decide to release such a large portion of their roster in the middle of the season? <h3>What led Barys Astana to release 7 former NHL players?</h3> In the KHL <a href='https://conwaysrussianhockey.wordpress.com/2018/10/30/foreign-players-and-the-khl/#:~:text=For%20the%20KHL's%20six%20non,own%20country%20or%20from%20Russia.' class='lien_marqueur' target='_blank' rel='noopener'>each team can only have a certain number of import players </a> from outside of Russia. To this point in the season, Barys Astana had been struggling to put together wins in the KHL. After two coaching changes and still no improvement in production, something else needed to change. At the time of his release, Michael McLeod was the team's leading scorer but tallied just 6 points in 16 games somehow. Likely Barys Astana knew these import players were not leading to wins and were not worth the import roster spots and the overall trouble. These players will most likely head to the AHL or other leagues in Europe. Things should and will be more complicated for Michael McLeod, who faces serious charges in connection to the 2018 World Junior Team arrests. As updates are made regarding the future of these players and their careers we will pass along the latest information.