Russia Announces Initial 16-Man Roster for 2016 World Cup of Hockey

Russia has announced its preliminary 16-man roster for 2016's World Cup of Hockey in Toronto, Canada on Wednesday.

NHL Public Relations shared Oleg Znarok's squad in its entirety: 

The Russians will face hockey's traditional "big six" at the tournament along with Team Europe and a Team North America side comprised of under-23 players.

The roster is typically top-heavy and contains 10 forwards and three defensemen, as well as three goalies. Znarok will likely name three more forwards and four more defensemen when he finalises his 23-man squad by June 1.

All of the players selected thus far play in the NHL, with none coming from Russia's Kontinental Hockey League. ProHockeyTalk's Mike Halford revealed some of the notable names to miss out on the initial selection:

Unsurprisingly, there's a place in the forward line for the Washington Capitals' left-winger Alex Ovechkin, who tops the player leaderboard with 40 goals this season. Ovechkin recently enjoyed a significant milestone, per the Capitals' official Twitter feed:

Rising star and Ovechkin's Capitals team-mate Evgeny Kuznetsov also makes the team. As noted by Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press, the 23-year-old is enjoying an outstanding season:

Kuznetsov was congratulated on making the squad:

Artemi Panarin, whose 57 points this season—made up of 22 goals and 35 assists—is the highest of any rookie, also makes the team and will provide a great deal of creativity.

Per Halford, there should be plenty of chemistry in Russia's forward line with a number of players selected from the same team:

"

Worth noting Russia has 3 sets of teammates at forward: Ovechkin/Kuznetsov (WSH), Kucherov/Namestnikov (TB), Panarin/Anisimov (CHI)

— Mike Halford (@HalfordPHT) March 2, 2016"

The three goaltenders are the expected choices, with Sergei Bobrovsky—the only Russian to win the Vezina trophy, awarded to the best goalie in the NHL—likely to be occupying the No. 1 spot and Semyon Varlamov and 21-year-old Andrei Vasilevskiy set to provide able back-up.

Notably, Dmitry Orlov also made the cut after an impressive season in Washington. Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post ran the rule over Orlov when he scored the winning goal against the Minnesota Wild on Friday, and believes he has done well to earn a place in Russia's roster: 

The inclusion of just three defensemen allows Znarok some flexibility in his choices ahead of the deadline in June and affords him the opportunity to wait for the likes of Alexei Emelin and Dimitry Kulikov to prove their form and fitness, which will be highly useful given the defense is Russia's biggest area of weakness.

As always they have plenty of firepower at their disposal and will be a threat to any team at the World Cup.

However, Russia have underperformed in recent years and finished in a disappointing fifth place at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. If they're to avoid a repeat and put in a strong showing in Ontario, it's their ability at the back that will prove crucial.