World Cup of Hockey: Russia final roster announced
Coming off a bronze medal at the World Championships, Russia is looking for success at a best-on-best tournament
Russia has been an underachiever at best-on-best tournaments since professionals returned to the Olympics in Nagano almost 20 years ago. They have a silver and a bronze in the five Olympics with NHL participation, but no medals since 2002, even failing at home in Sochi in 2014.
Their team this time around will have depth at forward and in goal, but it is on the back end where the Russians will struggle. Alexei Emelin was named to the final roster after Canadiens teammate Andrei Markov was named to the preliminary roster. Slava Voynov, who is suspended by the NHL, was also named. It will be interesting to see what happens with that considering the event is run by the league.
Up front, Russia will rely on Evgeni Malkin, Alex Ovechkin and the top line from the most recent World Championships, Artemi Panarin, Evgeni Dadonov and Vadim Shipachyov. Dadonov and Shipachyov are expected to make the jump to the NHL.
| Player | Position | Current Team |
|---|---|---|
| Sergei Bobrovsky | G | Columbus Blue Jackets |
| Semyon Varlamov | G | Colorado Avalanche |
| Andrei Vasilevskiy | G | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| Alexei Emelin | D | Montreal Canadiens |
| Alexey Marchenko | D | Detroit Red Wings |
| Slava Voynov | D | SKA St. Petersburg |
| Nikita Zaitsev | D | Toronto Maple Leafs |
| Dmitry Kulikov | D | Florida Panthers |
| Andrei Markov | D | Montreal Canadiens |
| Dmitry Orlov | D | Washington Capitals |
| Evgeny Dadonov | F | SKA St. Petersburg |
| Vadim Shipachyov | F | SKA St. Petersburg |
| Ivan Telegin | F | CSKA Moscow |
| Artem Anisimov | F | Chicago Blackhawks |
| Pavel Datsyuk | F | Detroit Red Wings/SKA |
| Nikita Kucherov | F | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| Evgeny Kuznetsov | F | Washington Capitals |
| Evgeni Malkin | F | Pittsburgh Penguins |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | F | Tampa Bay Lightning |
| Alex Ovechkin | F | Washington Capitals |
| Artemi Panarin | F | Chicago Blackhawks |
| Vladimir Tarasenko | F | St. Louis Blues |