Alexander Radulov to play for Team Russia at World Championship
The free agent-to-be isn’t done playing hockey this season
Montreal Canadiens forward Alexander Radulov will be playing for Russia at the upcoming World Championships.
Andrei Vasilevsky, Alex Radulov, Nikita Zaitsev have been recalled by Team Russia from the NHL.
— Aivis Kalniņš (@A_Kalnins) April 24, 2017
The news was also confirmed by the Russian federation.
The tournament will be held in Cologne, Germany and Paris, France in a joint hosting bid.
Radulov had 54 points (18 goals, 36 assists) in 76 games this season. He has represented Russia five times at the World Championships. In 41 games, he has 13 goals and 19 assists. He last played in the 2013 Worlds but since then was at the the 2014 Olympics as well.
He is set to become an unrestricted free-agent but both the Canadiens and Radulov have said they want to get a deal done. Waiting until after the expansion draft would mean that the Canadiens would save a protection slot, however, the league has said they will be hard on any potential circumvention.
The tournament starts May 5. Russia is in Group A with USA, Sweden, Slovakia, Germany, Latvia, Denmark, and Italy.