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Nyet: Dustin Brown passes on KHL, signs with Swiss league’s Zurich

Dustin Brown

It appears reports of Dustin Brown signing in the KHL were premature.

Just two days after Vityaz Chekhov GM Alexei Zhamnov said he was close to a deal with the Kings captain, Brown flipped the script by agreeing to terms with Zurich of the Swiss National League A.

News of the Zurich signing was first reported by TSN’s Darren Dreger.

Brown, 27, will join a Lions club with some familiar faces -- Marc Crawford, who coached Brown for two seasons in Los Angeles and Jeff Tambellini who, like Brown, was a first-round pick in 2003.

Brown and Tambellini also made their NHL debuts with the Kings in 2005-06.

The signing is a significant one for Zurich, the defending Swiss league champ that’s seen a number of rival clubs load up on locked-out NHLers. Brown is coming off a stellar Cup run with the Kings, pacing the team with 8G-12A-20PTS in 20 games en route to the first championship in franchise history.

In the opening round, he tied a playoff record by scoring two shorthanded goals in a Game 2 victory over the Canucks.

With the move, Brown becomes just the fourth King to sign overseas during the work stoppage. Anze Kopitar signed in the Swedish second division, Alec Martinez joined TPS of the Finnish league and Jonathan Bernier inked with Heilbronner of the Germany’s tier two, the Bundesliga.