It seems as if the KHL is in pretty big trouble. Many teams were already having financial problems, but in the past year (and specifically the past 2 weeks), the Ruble has crashed and the energy sector which subsidizes much of the league is in big trouble.
Kovy signed his contract with the Ruble valued at .33 to 1 USD, now it's .14 to 1 USD. I'm not sure the "tax-free" aspect of that contract matters much now.
James Mirtle has been tweeting about the subject, saying many players haven't been paid, and although some contracts are protected to currency devaluation, if the teams don't have to money to pay, it won't matter much.
@mirtle
It could be an interesting rest of the season over there.