Pavel Buchnevich, Igor Shesterkin (New York Rangers)
The New York Rangers could well become the main beneficiary of the Russian national team at the World Cup in Latvia.
Five domestic hockey players play in the club at once, and three of them can be safely attributed to the iron candidates for the national team.
However, the fans will definitely not wait for one thing. Forward Artemy Panarin announced in advance that he would miss the world championship. Officially, he referred to the severity of the current season and reluctance to end up in a “bubble” again, but there is also a version that the refusal was caused by a scandal with a girl allegedly beaten in Riga. But even if the best Russian striker of the regular season was determined to play under the leadership of Valery Bragin, with whom he is associated with a victory at the youth world championship, then the recent clash with Tom Wilson could have prevented. Because of his injuries, Panarin runs the risk of missing the rest of the season, and a trip to Latvia becomes unnecessary for him in any case.
But in the Rangers there are still two valuable players for the national team. Forward Pavel Buchnevich has made incredible progress this season and has become an important part of his club. Now he ranks third among the best Russian scorers, behind Kirill Kaprizov only because of fewer goals. However, an expiring contract can prevent Buchnevich from coming to the national team. Until a new agreement is signed, it is very difficult to imagine that an NHL player will go to the World Cup.
In the worst case, the only thing left to wait from the Rangers is Igor Shesterkin.
He spent his second season in the NHL quite well, bringing the team 15 victories and completing two "crackers".
In comparison with his compatriots, the Olympic champion is second only to Semyon Varlamov and Andrei Vasilevsky in terms of the percentage of reflected pucks, which makes him indispensable for the national team.
Shesterkin himself will most likely want to play in a tournament with which he has no relationship - he won his two bronze medals without going out on the ice, and with his direct participation, the national team lost to Canada in the quarterfinals of 2018.
Ivan Provorov (Philadelphia Flyers)
The Philadelphia Flyers have been missing the Stanley Cup on odd seasons for a long time, and this tradition opens the doors to the national team for Ivan Provorov.
Although his team did not make it to the playoffs, there should be no complaints about the Russian defender this season.
He ends the year with a positive "plus or minus" indicator, and besides him, only a still quite inexperienced compatriot Yegor Zamula has achieved this.
Provorov also retained the status of a defensive scorer, albeit not as bright as he was last season.
In the current regular season, he has no goals in the majority (a year ago there were seven), but he is consistently gaining his half point per game.
At the same time, Provorov spends on average more than 25 minutes per game on the ice, and this is the eighth figure in the league - the Russian team should not miss such a popular defender.
Denis Guryanov (Dallas Stars)
The Dallas Stars are still fighting for the playoffs. The team still has four away games left and, in theory, could take the last ticket to the Central Division from the Nashville Predators. But the chances for this are still not so many, since you need to win back four points, and the “predators” have enough of their matches.
If the Stars never make it to the Stanley Cup, then Denis Guryanov will have a chance to go to the World Cup. However, judging only by statistics, his challenge does not seem so necessary. One of the heroes of last year's playoffs managed to score only 29 points and scored 11 goals. However, Guryanov had a long period when he did not play, and he still managed to overcome his problems. In the last ten games, the 23-year-old striker had nine points, which is already a good indicator. Guryanov is well known to Bragin from his performances at the World Youth Championship, and the coach may well trust him.
Goalkeeper Anton Khudobin also remains in Dallas.
After last year's playoffs, he began to go out on the ice more often, but did not turn into a superstar among goalkeepers.
Khudobin is about to turn 35, and at that age you need to have very strong reasons to play for the national team.
His stats are currently not much better than Alexander Georgiev of the Rangers, and if Bragin needs another goalkeeper from the NHL, he would rather opt for a younger player.
We must not forget that the tournament in Riga will be an important test before the Olympics, and Khudobin is unlikely to apply for it.
Nikita Zaitsev, Artyom Zub, Evgeny Dadonov (Ottawa Senators)
Two more defenders for the Russian national team may come from the Ottawa Senators.
Nikita Zaitsev and Artyom Zub will definitely not play in the playoffs and will soon end the season.
True, due to the postponement of regular season matches, they will be released only after May 12, while the planetary championship starts already on the 21st.
Zaitsev's candidacy can hardly be questioned.
One of the leading defensive players in the NHL is needed by the national team and may well make the first pair with Provorov.
Zaitsev ends the season with an unpleasant "-12", but the leader of a not very strong team, who spends a lot of time on the ice, cannot expect anything else.
In addition, the national team is experiencing a serious shortage of right-backs, and therefore it has no right to miss not only Zaitsev, but also his teammate Zub. The first season of the Olympic champion in Ottawa turned out to be very worthy - he quickly grew to a player of the second pair and never left the ice with an indicator worse than "-2" per match, so Zub was not involved in the failure of the team in the regular season. It is curious that he scored three goals, despite the fact that in just a season he aimed at goal only 33 times.
The Ottawa team will also need Evgeny Dadonov.
This season he cannot be recorded as an asset - only 13 goals and 7 assists, and in the majority he scored only one point.
But Dadonov has a chance to once again be in the same three with Vadim Shipachev, with whom they played great in SKA.
If Buchnevich joins them, then the first link of the national team will already take on its final form.
Alexander Barabanov (San Jose Sharks)
For Alexander Barabanov, his debut season in the NHL almost turned into a failure.
The former SKA striker started at the Toronto Maple Leafs but has only one point in 13 games.
Fortunately, San Jose Sharks believed in him, and the striker immediately revealed himself in the new team.
Two goals and three assists in five games literally revived the Olympic champion's career.
True, Barabanov did not manage to save the team from the early end of the season.
But on the other hand, he should have attracted the attention of the national team's coaching staff.
There is no doubt that he is in good shape right now.
In addition, Barabanov recently played for SKA and must quickly establish relations with Bragin's charges, who should be a lot in the national team.
Vladislav Gavrikov, Mikhail Grigorenko (Columbus Blue Jackets)
Another stable NHL defender who will not be busy during the World Cup is Vladislav Gavrikov.
Although he is rarely praised, and his Columbus Blue Jackets are in last place in the Central Division, the team still does not hurt another player, accustomed to the tough NHL struggle, which is in the worst teams in the league and has to be seen.
Just like Dadonov and Guryanov, Mikhail Grigorenko can count on Bragin's helping hand. His return to the NHL was not at all what he would have liked. At Columbus, he scored only 11 points in 29 games, and the club even put him on the bounce draft. But if the striker's problems are not related to his inappropriate playing style, but to his physical form, then he will hardly be allowed to recruit it at the World Cup.