He started the whole wave of Russian players leveraging the KHL to gain better NHL contracts, no NHL GM in their right mind will take a chance on him for some time.
I believe it's been about 6-7 years since he defected (with an active NHL contract I may add) and we still don't hear his name as a viable option for a team in need - tells me he is still black balled.
Yeah he bolted Nashville after the 07/08 season, played 4 years in the KHL and then he returned to the Predators at the end of the 11/12 season for 9 games and the playoffs. I guess that was to complete his contract so he could be a free agent but he returned to the KHL for the past 2 seasons. No offers from any NHL clubs would be my guess also.