Source: Anze Kopitar to Sweden

Updated: September 18, 2012, 7:26 PM ET
ESPN.com news services

Anze Kopitar of the Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings has signed a deal to play with Mora IK of the Swedish league's second division during the NHL lockout, a source confirmed to ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun on Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday marked only the third full day of the work stoppage. The NHL locked the players out over the weekend, when the collective bargaining agreement expired at 11:59 p.m. Saturday. It's the NHL's fourth work stoppage in the past 20 years.

As of Sunday morning, all NHL players were free to speak to other leagues. Many will land in Russia's KHL, and some big names already have signed there. Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin and Ottawa defenseman Sergei Gonchar agreed to deals with Metallurg. New Jersey Devils star Ilya Kovalchuk will join the KHL's SKA St. Petersburg, his agent confirmed to ESPNNewYork.com's Katie Strang on Monday night.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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