Man, this would've been a strong team.
This is what Russia's Olympic hockey roster could've looked like with NHL stars originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
There is no Russian hockey team at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
From an on-ice perspective, it's the only negative of this year's return to best-on-best and having NHL players at the Olympics for the first time since 2014.
Russia would've had one of the best teams in the tournament.
The Athletic actually asked Russian coach Igor Larinov who he would've picked for the team, and it puts into perspective the strength of the group that won't get to play.
This is the forward group Larinov suggested:
- Nikita Kucherov
- Evgeni Malkin
- Kirill Kaprizov
- Pavel Buchnevich
- Artemi Panarin
- Kirill Marchenko
- Alex Ovechkin
- Vladislav Namestnikov
- Ivan Demidov
- Vasily Podkolzin
- Fedor Svechkov
- Ivan Barbashev
Ovechkin clearly would've gotten tons of attention as this team's leader, and as the NHL's all-time leader in goals scored.
But there is a lot of up and coming young talent, too, around the veterans Ovechkin, Kucherov, Malkin and Panarin.
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Defensively, Larinov picked this group:
- Mikhail Sergachev
- Alexander Nikishin
- Vladislaw Gavrikov
- Artem Zub
- Nikita Zadorov
- Dmitry Orlov
Goalie would've been a strength, too, with Andrei Vasilevskiy and Igor Shesterkin.
According to the same article from The Athletic, Russia would've had a 44.7% chance of medaling, and a 12.2% chance at gold.
Instead, the tournament will take place without the Russian players, who will get a break from their NHL action and watch, if they choose, from home.
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Category: General Sports
