Pavel Datsyuk announced Wednesday he will not be returning to SKA St. Petersburg next season.

However, TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie tweeted that Datsyuk's likely destination for next season is with the KHL's Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg rather than his former Detroit Red Wings team.

Datsyuk, who left the Detroit Red Wings for the KHL after the 2015-16 season, just completed his third season with SKA. He posted 12 goals and 42 points in 54 games, adding one goal and seven points in 12 playoff games.

"Dear Friends, The St. Petersburg stage of my career has come to an end. These were the memorable years," Datsyuk wrote on his official Facebook page, as translated by the site. "I want to say thank you to the SKA club. In St. Petersburg there are wonderful conditions for games and training, attentive staff - all this helps to concentrate exclusively on hockey. Such a system is not a single year, and this is a huge merit of the club's leadership."

Datsyuk's agent, Dan Milstein, told Russia's Match TV in January that the 40-year-old planned to play beyond this season.

"I'll tell you one thing, Pavel is not ready to finish hockey in the coming years," Milstein said, via Google Translate. "So the decision is his - whether to leave for America, whether to play further in the KHL."

Milstein added he believes Datsyuk would have plenty of suitors in the NHL, but a return to the Red Wings, who he spent all 14 seasons of his NHL career with, could make sense.

"Three years ago, Datsyuk left Detroit on his own," Milstein said. "The same desire can bring him back."

Datsyuk had one year left on his contract at a $7.5 million cap hit when he left the NHL. Detroit traded his contract ahead of the 2016-17 season to the Arizona Coyotes, who will own his NHL rights until July 1 of this year.

Datsyuk scored 16 goals and tallied 44 points in 66 games in his final NHL season and totalled 314 goals and 918 points in 953 regular-season games.

The two-time Stanley Cup champion has also won three Selke trophies as the best defensive forward in the NHL and four Lady Byng trophies for sportsmanship.

He won an Olympic gold medal with the Olympic Athletes from Russia in February and also won the KHL's Gagarin Cup in 2017.