Mikhail Grigorenko leaving the NHL.

We won't need until the official start of free agency to know the fate of National Hockey League veteran Mikhail Grigorenko, who on Saturday appeared to get a jump start on the offseason by leaving the NHL altogether.

Grigorenko's former team, CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League, has announced that the veteran will be returning to the KHL on a multi year deal. This new deal with CSKA indicates the end of Grigorenko's second run in the NHL and could very well mark the end of his NHL career as well. 

Once a highly promising young prospect, Grigorenko was drafted in the first round (12th overall) by the Buffalo Sabres at the 2012 NHL Entry Draft but never really got it together at the NHL level. The centerman had a number of relatively disappointing seasons with the Sabres and performed only moderately better in his two seasons with the Colorado Avalanche over the course of his first run in the NHL, a run that was followed by 3 consecutive seasons with CSKA in the KHL.

His most recent run in the NHL came with the Columbus Blue Jackets but Grigorenko largely failed to deliver, recording just 4 goals and 8 assists over 32 games with the Blue Jackets this season. When you consider that he had a been producing a nearly a point per game pace over his 2 previous seasons in the KHL, there's little doubt in my mind that he underwhelmed in terms of the expectation the Blue Jackets had when signing him.

He finished the season with a plus minus rating of -2 and would have been an unrestricted free agent in a matter of weeks, and it's unclear why he opted not to field any offers in free agency from NHL teams.

Grigorenko is only 27 years old so it is possible that he could return one day after his contract with CSKA will expire, but that seems like a bit of a long shot at this point. If this is indeed the end of his time in the NHL he will have 249 career games to his name with 26 goals and 50 assists for a total of 76 points over that stretch.