Though the NHL trade deadline just passed and the playoff races are heating up, the 2016 World Cup of Hockey is at the forefront of the hockey world Wednesday as each of the eight teams competing are releasing their 16-player preliminary rosters one-by-one. Each team will eventually have 23 players (20 skaters, 3 goalies), so more additions will be unveiled at a later date.
Russia was the first team to unveil their roster for the World Cup and as promised, it featured only Russians currently playing in the NHL. They have the option to add KHL players later, which probably would be the preference, but their 50-50 roster didn’t work out so well at the Olympics. By naming 16 NHLers on the preliminary list, Team Russia is guaranteed to be NHL-dominated.
Here’s a look at who Team Russia GM and former NHLer Alexei Zhamnov selected to his initial roster:
Goalies
Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets
Semyon Varlamov, Colorado Avalanche
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning
Defense
Dmitry Kulikov, Florida Panthers
Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens
Dmitry Orlov, Washington Capitals
Forwards
Artem Anisimov, Chicago Blackhawks
Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning
Nikolay Kulemin, New York Islanders
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington Capitals
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins
Vladislav Namestnikov, Tampa Bay Lightning
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Artemi Panarin, Chicago Blackhawks
Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues
As we’ll do for all of the rosters released Wednesday, here are three things to know about Team Russia:
1. The forward group is already terrifying
If there’s one thing you can count on Russia for at every single tournament they enter, their forward group is going to be loaded with skill. Thanks to the emergence of some of their younger budding stars in the NHL, Russia’s forward crop is going to be as potent as any when it comes to offensive firepower.
They’ve got the best goal scorer in the game in Alex Ovechkin. They’ve got the NHL’s best rookie this season in Artemi Panarin, who has been putting up a boat load of points. They have the NHL’s breakout star of the year in Ovechkin’s Capitals teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov. There’s also one of the craftiest veterans in the game today in Pavel Datsyuk.
Then you look at guys like Evgeni Malkin and Vladimir Tarasenko who combine power with immense skill and goal-scoring ability. Nikita Kucherov has become one of the league’s better young snipers as he leads the Tampa Bay Lightning. The talent just keeps going and going.
Six of the forwards named to Russia’s team Wednesday – Kuznetsov, Ovechkin, Panarin, Tarasenko, Malkin and Kucherov -- have already eclipsed 50 points this season.
There are going to be weapons on every single line which means if Russia gets hot, they’re going to have a chance to score in bunches. You don’t want to get into a track meet with Russia in that case. But there’s one big caveat…
2. The defense is going to be a trouble spot
As it so often is, the defense for Team Russia is going to be a concern.
Andrei Markov has had a great career, but this year has been an example of his decline. Dmitry Orlov is a solid young defenseman, but he is a depth defenseman in the NHL and likely a top-four for Russia.
Kulikov remains intriguing though. He’s just 25 and getting top-four minutes with the Atlantic Division-leading Panthers. He has 13 points this season.
These were the three best defensemen available to Russia in the NHL to name to their initial roster. Perhaps Flyers blueliner Evgeny Medvedev will get a look, too, but this may be an area where they need to look outside of the NHL.
They need an active, mobile defense to maximize their forwards. There may be a few players out there that can do the job, but they're not going to be on the same level as other countries' blue lines.
3. Goaltending is set
By naming three goalies to the team, that position is locked in unless one of Sergei Bobrovsky, Semyon Varlamov or Andrei Vasilevskiy get injured. These were really the only three viable Russian goalies in the league anymore anyway.
The bad news for Russia, is that none of these netminders has played exceptionally well this year. Varlamov has a .912 save percentage in 44 appearances. Bobrovsky has a .911 mark in 27 games in an injury-abbreviated year. Vasilevskiy is young and promising, but still a backup with 16 NHL starts this season.
They’re going to need one of these guys to come up huge for them to have a chance in the tournament and with the way they’ve played this year, that’s going to be difficult to count on. Vasilevskiy might end up being a darkhorse in this three-goalie race though. He’s shown some flashes of brilliance for both the Lightning and Russia internationally and they probably won’t be shy about giving him a shot.
Russia is going to be looking to make up for an absolutely dreadful Olympics on home ice, so expect a motivated group in September.
