St Petersburg's luckless INHL team SKA could be poised for either a purge or an exodus of unhappy players.
However, nothing has been finalized yet and no official action has been taken, according to SKA spokesman Vladimir Kuzmin.
Widespread reports of SKA preparing to release nearly 20 players have circulated, as well as reports of nearly 20 players quitting the team.
Mr Kuzmin said only that a final decision would be made after Coach Boris Mikhailov returned from Moscow, where he was meeting with Inter-Nation Hockey League officials.
Goalies Maxim Sokolov and Kirill "Popugai" (the Parrot) Korenkov were reported to be under the ax, leaving only newcomer Yevgeny Brul in the net. Brul spent much of last season on the disabled list.
Defensemen Vladimir Aleksushin and forwards Vladimir Andreyev, Viktor Belyakov and Yuri Tsyplakov were also rumored to be targets.
Vladimir Andreyev has already made his frustration with the team known and did not renew his contract after this year.
Forward Alexander Khavanov could also call it quits, having spent much of the season playing in Sweden.
The culling would leave only fan favorite Maxim Sushinsky, Alexander Vinogradov and the coach's son, Yegor "Malenky" Mikhailov, out of the well-known players.
Mr Kuzmin stressed that while rumors of dissent were flying, nothing had been decided and any sort of final announcement would wait until Mikhailov's return.
Mikhailov is due to be back in St Petersburg on Thursday.
The reports had fans in despair after an already depressing season.
SKA limped through the second half of the regular season and finished 10th in the INHL standings.
Their playoff performance was remarkable for its lack of effort, when they were eliminated by Ak Bars (Kazan) in the first round 4-0, 3-1.