The team that was not: Russian hockey players deprived of a chance at the 2022 World Cup medals, in addition to Kaprizov, Ovechkin and Malkin

The 85th Ice Hockey World Championship continues in Finland - a tournament in which the Russian team, traditionally one of the main favorites, was excluded from participation for political reasons.

At six of the last eight championships, domestic athletes have won medals and would certainly qualify for awards this year as well.

Especially given the fact that by the middle of the group stage, the NHL stars could replenish the team, whose clubs could not get into the quarterfinals of the Stanley Cup.

RT has compiled a list of 19 Russian legionnaires of the National Hockey League, who by now could be called up to the national team and help her in the fight for the main trophy of the tournament.

The roster included three goalkeepers, seven defenders and nine forwards.

And this is not counting Alexander Radulov, who has not played at the World Championships since 2013, and the young Alexander Romanov and Yegor Chinakhov, who continue to gain experience in the overseas league.

Goalkeepers

Ilya Sorokin, Semyon Varlamov (both New York Islanders), Ilya Samsonov (Washington Capitals) 

The goalkeeper position is traditionally one of the most complete in the Russian national team.

At the last three World Championships, the No. Igor Shesterkin.

And although this time all three continue to play in the playoffs and could not help the national team, even in their absence, there would be no need to worry about the safety of the gate.

At the disposal of the coaching staff could be three high-class goalkeepers at once, one of whom spent his best season in the NHL.

Ilya Sorokin was so good that he not only ousted his star compatriot Semyon Varlamov from the base, but was also included among the main applicants for Vezina.

According to the vote of the journalists of the official website of the league held at the end of April, he took sixth place, ahead of not only Vasilevsky, but also Bobrovsky, whose Florida went full steam ahead to the first President's Cup in history.

In terms of the percentage of shots deflected, the graduate of Metallurg Novokuznetsk took second place (92.5%) among goalkeepers who played at least ten matches, and only the impenetrable Shesterkin (93.5%) missed ahead.

And Frederik Andersen and Jakob Markström also turned out to be higher in terms of reliability coefficient.

Nevertheless, the partners did not support the Russian, as a result of which the current semi-finalists of the Stanley Cup did not even get into the playoffs.

The last time this happened to the Islanders was in 2018.

Earlier, Sorokin repeatedly got into the application for the championship of the planet, and even went out on the ice on two, however, he did not have a place at the start.

Therefore, I would hardly have refused the opportunity to become the main one.

At the same time, both the experienced Varlamov and the young Ilya Samsonov could keep him company.

True, the position of the Washington gate guard is questionable, especially given the presence of Ivan Fedotov.

The newly minted Philadelphia goalkeeper first helped the team win silver at the Beijing Olympics, and then won the Gagarin Cup with CSKA, demonstrating the highest level of skill. 

Defenders

Dmitry Orlov (Washington Capitals), Vladislav Gavrikov (Columbus Blue Jackets), Ivan Provorov (Philadelphia Flyers), Dmitry Kulikov (Minnesota Wild), Artyom Zub and Nikita Zaitsev (Ottawa Senators), Ilya Lyubushkin (Toronto Maple Leafs) 

As in the case of Sorokin, the Russian team could count on the arrival of a number of strong defenders even before the start of the World Cup.

Columbus, Philadelphia, and Ottawa didn't make it to the playoffs, so four defensive players were immediately available.

And already at the end of the first round, almost all the strongest performers of this role in the country were released.

With the exception of Mikhail Sergachev from Tampa Bay and Nikita Zadorov from Calgary.

For Zadorov, the past regular season has become one of the most successful.

He not only set a personal record in points (4 + 18), but also finished the championship with a worthy indicator of usefulness (“+11”).

However, even without them, the defensive line promised to be more than complete.

Dmitry Orlov reached a new level and for the first time reached the mark of 35 (12 + 23) points, but also got into the top 20 league defensemen in +/-.

In this regard, Dmitry Kulikov was not far behind him, having unambiguously given the best season in his career, which was helped by the transition to Minnesota.

And Vladislav Gavrikov and Ivan Provorov, although not always acting flawlessly at their own gates, were very useful at strangers.

Both Nikita Zaitsev, a regular at the World Championships, and his Ottawa partner, Artyom Zub, could become an effective addition to them.

Both have rich experience of playing for the national team, and both took the bronze of the World Cup twice, and the ex-SKA player can boast of the gold of the Pyeongchang Olympics.

And closer to the middle of the group stage, Ilya Lyubushkin could also join the team, raising the level of competition for getting into the base to the limit.

This year, an experienced homebody defender managed to move from Arizona to Toronto, where, although he began to throw less, he began to bring more benefits. 

forwards

Kirill Kaprizov (Minnesota Wild), Alexander Ovechkin (Washington Capitals), Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins), Evgeny Dadonov (Vegas Golden Knights), Denis Guryanov (Dallas Stars), Ilya Mikheev ( Toronto Maple Leafs), Alexander Barabanov (San Jose Sharks), Vladislav Namestnikov (Detroit Red Wings), Vasily Podkolzin (Vancouver Canucks).

As for the attacking line, in an ideal scenario, the Russian team could put together a squad that could compete with the 2019 convocation.

Then at the disposal of Ilya Vorobyov was a whole scattering of stars, including Nikita Kucherov, Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeny Malkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, as well as the leading KHL hockey players - Nikita Gusev and Kirill Kaprizov.

The team demonstrated super-bright and at times even absurdly attacking hockey, but in the end they stumbled over uncomfortable Finns and ended up with bronze.

In many ways, it was the lack of goals in the semi-final that prevented the team from taking first place in terms of goals in the tournament.

With 43 goals, they finished fourth behind the Canadians, Swedes and Czechs.

In an ideal scenario in 2022, the attack of the Russian team could turn out to be no less stellar and intimidating.

Over the past three years, Kaprizov has become one of the leading forwards in the NHL and not only finished fifth in the scoring race with 108 points, but also rewrote many Minnesota records.

Ovechkin, although he slowed down a bit in the second half of the regular season, still performed more than impressively: for the first time since 2010, he scored 90 points and for the ninth time reached the mark of 50 goals.

And even though Malkin returned to the ice only in the winter, he immediately began to help Pittsburgh and knocked out an average of 1.02 points per game (20 + 22 in 41 meetings).

Only the arrival of these three hockey players could make the Russian team one of the contenders for medals.

And there is every reason to believe that at least two of them would not refuse a trip to Finland.

Whims and Malkin have always willingly responded to the challenges of the coaching staff, and Ovechkin has missed only five tournaments in the last 18 years, counting the current World Cup.

In 2021, Alexander was prevented by injuries, in 2018 and 2017 he took part in campaigns for the Stanley Cup, one of which turned out to be successful.

Just like in 2009.

Then the championship of the planet took place from April 24 to May 10, and Washington finished the fight for the trophy only three days after the final.

In addition to recognized stars, other strong hockey players could strengthen the composition of Russia.

Evgeny Dadonov and Denis Guryanov could claim the roles of snipers.

They were not so good in the last regular season, and the Vegas forward was almost traded against his will, so both could be extremely motivated.

The gold of the 2022 World Cup would brighten up the impression of a not very successful career segment.

Moreover, if the first in the track record already has five tournament awards, then the second could make his debut in the first team.

Previously, he played only for the junior and youth teams, with the latter he won the bronze of the world championship in 2017.

Alexander Barabanov and Ilya Mikheev could also be a good addition.

The former made tremendous progress during his first full season with San Jose and gradually began to join Tomas Gertl and Timo Maier on the first line.

Mikheev, although he did not rise so high, had a stable place in the top 9 and also made a serious jump in productivity.

If a year earlier he scored 17 (7 + 10) points in 54 matches, then this time he scored 32 (21 + 11) in 53.

Vladislav Namestnikov and Vasily Podkolzin could also get a chance to prove themselves in the first team of the country.

But if for the first challenge could become the provision of psychological support after not the most successful season, then for the second - encouragement for a pretty good debut in the NHL.

In his first year in the overseas league, he scored 14 goals and scored a total of 26 points.

Less impressive in the NHL started many stars of domestic hockey, including Nikita Kucherov with Valery Kamensky and Alexei Morozov.