I have a good friend from the Союз Советских Социалистических Республик (CCCP), and she has been kindly scouting out the Russian sites on any tasty news on either Mikhnov or Malkin. Here's what I've got from the Black Widow so far, in pretty much her exact words:

• On the official Metallurg hockey site, fans are obviously bitter. They are claiming Malkin is absent of morals, and disloyal to the club who made him into the player that he is. There is also discussion on whether he should be allowed to play for team Russia.

• There is no news of Mikhnov on the Yaroslavl site, so it is unlikely that there are any new developments on that front.

• Mikhnov has a brother, Andrei, who plays internationally for the Ukraine. Interestingly, Andrei remained a Ukrainian citizen, while Alexei moved early and became a Russian one. Andrei is a draft pick of the Blues.

• As far as Malkin goes, there is a little interview with GM Metallurg Velichkin from a day or so ago, where he says that Malkin phoned home, and was repeatedly saying "I'm alright, I'm alright" and not much else, while his Mom begged him not to make any rash decisions and to think again about what he had done. Something to the effect of "went for a little ride and now it's time to come home". Velichkin also disputed a couple rumours in the Russian press - 1) that he had Malkin's passport on him due to fear of Malkin fleeing. He says that Malkin's passport was with his former agent, Sergei Isakov, and 2) that the club was threatening to take away Malkin's parents' apartment that was given to them by the club. Apparently they live in a 2-storey house that was purchased with Malkin's earnings from last year. He is not impressed with the Russian media and says that they need to stick together, as Russia's "prestige" is on the line.

Also, Velichkin reported to the press that the resignation that was faxed from Malkin is a giant fake, because a) it looks like someone else's handwriting (almost a woman's), b) some of the sentence structure used is ancient (old Slavic), so looks like it was written by an emigrant, and c) according to the club's attorney, the signature does not match the one Malkin gave on Aug 7 (new contract with Metallurg). So apparently they threw it out.

• In a new story, they mention Taratuhin(Taratukhin) and Mikhnov and state that they will file a lawsuit if there is a contract between any of these players and the respective NHL clubs that want them. I'm going to get a better update on this one later.

There you go. I hope some of this is new news., and of interest to people. I will provide further information as the Black Widow reports in.