I do wonder if there will be a new trends with "prospects" preferring to stay in Europe/KHL until at least their mid-20s.
There's been a handful of free agents coming over. There's higher profile Russians, but also Mario Kempe signed with the Coyotes and he is similar to Daniel Zaar. He didn't make a great impression playing in the AHL, went back over to Sweden and when Kempe played for DIF, I didn't think he had any future in the NHL. Now at age 28, Kempe is heading back to the NHL after finally having a breakout season in the SHL.
Zaar signed with Malmö and it seems strange he'd give up on the NHL so quickly. But if he did stay in North America, it would be more seasons in the AHL likely being told to become a better defensive player and turn into a solid 3rd liner. Instead, he can go back to Sweden and be a 1st/2nd line player and potentially sign a free agent contract in a few years and walk onto a NHL team as a top 6 forward without all the grinding in the AHL.
Elvis likely wasn't interested in coming over to play in the ECHL since the Jackets had Korpi, Forsberg and Dansk, and he has a great situation in Lugano which is an amazing city to live in. Rather than having to rid the bus in the minors, Elvis might be able to just walk into a backup role or at least have a short stint (maybe similar to Frederik Andersen).