Zaripov's agent Yury Nikolayev told Russian state news agency TASS that the team had brought his two-year contract to an end.

The 36-year-old, a member of winning Russian teams at the 2008, 2009 and 2014 World Championships, was given a two-year doping suspension by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) last month.

It came after he submitted a sample containing a "category S6.b stimulant" plus "category S5 diuretics and masking agents".

Zaripov, who represented Russia at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, will not be free to return to the sport until May 22 in 2019.

Zaripov managed 16 goals and 29 assists in 56 games for KHL runners-up Metallurg Magnitogorsk last season.

He then re-joined Ak Bars, who are based in Kazan and who had previously played for between 2001 and 2013, in July and was expected to play there for the next two campaigns.

It is not yet clear why he has been awarded a two-year suspension rather than the mandatory four-year sentence outlined in the 2015 World Anti-Doping Code.

Zaripov has protested his innocence and previously claimed he would launch an appeal.

Canadian Derek Smith and Russia's Andrei Konev were also suspended for using banned stimulants, the KHL said.

Konev will only be banned until November 19 this year, while Smith will be ruled out until September 2, 2018.

The world's second largest ice hockey league has revealed that 377 doping tests conducted last season were administered in conjunction with the IIHF and World Anti-Doping Agency.

Russia is still seeking to prove its improved doping system as the Russian Anti-Doping Agency remains suspended following the McLaren Report revelations about a state-sponsored drugs testing system in the country.

Recently introduced measures include a clampdown on funding athletes implicated in doping cases.