Russia announces Olympic hockey squad

With the Olympic Winter Games 2010 starting in February, preparations for the Olympic hockey tournament are already underway. Today, coach Vyacheslav Bykov announced the preliminary squad that will represent Russia in Vancouver.

Unsurprisingly, All-Star forward Alex Ovechkin will be the captain of the Russian squad and is expected to carry the team to a more successful tournament than in 2006. Throughout his career in the NHL, the left wing from the Washington Capitals scored 243 goals and 464 points in 353 NHL games. Likewise, All-Stars Ilya Kovalchuk and Evgeni Malkin will join the Russian offense around Ovechkin. Less predictable was Bykov’s decision to name 9 players from the Russian KHL while leaving NHL veterans like Alexei Kovalev and Sergei Zubov out of the lineup. Most notably, Sergei Fedorov will be part of the Olympic team after finishing his NHL career last season and returning home to play a few more years of KHL hockey. At the other end of the ice, goaltender Evgeni Nabokov from the San Jose Sharks will try to give the Russian defense a boost night in and night out.

Other notable players include Pavel Datsyuk from the Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguin Sergei Gonchar and former NHL pro Viktor Kozlov. That said, coach Bykov still has some time until the final roster has to be submitted and might make changes if he feels the need to do so. Without any doubts, the Russian squad is hoping to bounce back after a series of mediocre Olympic performances. In fact, the last time that the Eastern European powerhouse managed to win the gold medal was in the 1992 Olympics in France. Considering the amount of talent that players like Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin will bring to the ice, it is certainly not beyond the realms of reality that Russia might finish the tournament with a medal. Yet, the squad might not have the depth of teams like Canada, Sweden or Finland which could lead to Russia’s stars getting extended playing time down the stretch.

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