Russia, Olympic Athletes from Russia (OAR), Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) — whatever the name, now that the NHL is out of the Beijing Olympics, the Russians will be the favorites for the gold medal.
After the NHL on Wednesday withdrew from the Games to save a league schedule ravaged by COVID-19 outbreaks, Europe-based players are set to dominate the Olympic men’s tournament.
That puts the Russians, competing in Beijing as ROC, in a strong position to retain the gold medal they won in 2018 under the OAR name. The changes were required as part of Russia’s sanctions for various doping-related issues across multiple Olympic sports.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Just as it was four years ago, the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) remains the strongest league outside of the NHL. Russia has used the big-spending SKA St Petersburg and CSKA Moscow clubs to keep some talented younger Russians at home, as they might otherwise have moved to North America.
The Russian roster would be less familiar to North American fans than the 2018 lineup led by Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk, who have not officially retired, but have not played this season. Kovalchuk might be in Beijing in a manager role for the Russian Hockey Federation.
Some 2018 gold medalists are in the NHL, including Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov, Ottawa Senators defenseman Artem Zub and two of the three goaltenders: the New York Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin and the New York Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin.
Photo: AFP
Expect center Vadim Shipachyov, briefly of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017-2018, to star for the ROC. He has 21 goals and 36 assists in 40 games in the KHL this season for Dynamo Moscow. Experienced forward Mikhail Grigorenko is available because he moved back to Russia, after spending 2020-2021 with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and former New Jersey Devils wing Nikita Gusev is likely to make the roster, too.
Former Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov has not played in the NHL since a 2014 domestic violence arrest and subsequent suspension, but he is also considered key to Russia’s plans.
The Russians can be beaten. Finland proved that on Sunday with a 3-2 overtime win in Moscow during the Channel One Cup, a tournament used as a pre-Olympic tune-up for non-NHL players.
The game-winning goal was a bizarre one, awarded by the referees because of a penalty on a Finland breakaway facing the empty Russian net. The puck never entered the net. Finland won all three of their games in the tournament, but needed overtime twice.
Former NHL players who are candidates for Finland include forwards Markus Granlund and Leo Komarov, and defenseman Julius Honka. Komarov played a game for the Islanders earlier this season before agreeing to mutually terminate his contract.
Canada sent a team to the tournament too, beating Sweden, but losing to Finland and Russia with a roster assembled from clubs in six different countries. Two free agents, defenseman Jason Demers and center Eric Fehr, brought much-needed experience with 699 and 652 career NHL games respectively, and both subsequently signed with the same KHL team.
Former Montreal Canadiens coach Claude Julien is in line to be behind the bench for Canada, with ex-Arizona Coyotes captain Shane Doan the top candidate to serve as general manager.
Wearing throwback Soviet Union uniforms, Russia had wins over Canada, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
Host nation China was under pressure to prove its men’s team meets the competitive standard to play Olympic hockey. That is less of an issue now.
China has used the KHL club Kunlun Red Star as a proxy for the national team, with mostly naturalized players born in the US and Canada, many of them with Chinese heritage. Kunlun is ranked last among the 24 teams in the KHL and lost two games used by the International Ice Hockey Federation to gauge their readiness.
China is drawn against the US, Canada and Germany in the pool stage. Without the NHL, there is less chance of China’s games becoming record blowouts.
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