Not my friend, I said someone I know rather than the long version being my wife's best friend's daughter's boyfriend. He's much younger than me.
That said, I do have a friend, beyond playing days now (mid-40s) where I do have a bit of insight around how things work NHL vs. AHL, etc. He was a high end player, drafted high (around 30th overall) into NHL, played in the NHL at 19 before hurting his knee....like 20 game in or something. He then had a very hard time getting back. A lot of it had to do with the business side....two-way contracts vs. one-way contracts. He was a much, much better player than some guys in the NHL (offensively for example)....that's where, if you are the type of player he was, you aren't going to be brought up to the NHL to play on the 4th line like a grinder. You are either going to have room to take a spot on the 2nd line or you are going to stay in the AHL....easy to keep a guy like that in the AHL due to two-way contract. He did get back up here and there, but probably played less than 50-60 games in the NHL over his career....but it got to a point....late 20's, when he ended up going to Europe as there is more money there than the AHL....but if goal is to crack the NHL, you stick around in the AHL. So, I suspect a lot of the KHL is Russians who aren't at the level to play in the NHL + guys that played a bit in the AHL that weren't going to make it as full-time NHLers.