Athletes of Russia Olympic Hockey Team 2018: Top Players, Uniforms and More
While Russia can't officially send a team to the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics due to sanctions handed down by the International Olympic Committee, the Olympic Athletes from Russia men's hockey team is stacked with star power and favored to take gold.
With the NHL opting against allowing its players to compete in South Korea, the Athletes of Russia have a leg up since the KHL is the second-best professional league in the world and contains many former NHL stars.
Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic figure to be competitive as well with players from their domestic professional leagues, while the United States and Canada will rely on players scattered across the globe, including the AHL, college and juniors, in addition to European leagues.
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Here is a full rundown of the Olympic Athletes from Russia hockey team, along with a closer look at the their top players and predictions for how the team will fare in Pyeongchang.
Full Roster (via CBC)
Vasily Koshechkin, goalie, Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Igor Shestyorkin, goalie, SKA Saint Petersburg
Ilya Sorokin, goalie, CSKA Moscow
Vladislav Gavrikov, defenseman, SKA Saint Petersburg
Alexey Marchenko, defenseman, CSKA Moscow
Nikita Nesterov, defenseman, CSKA Moscow
Vyacheslav Voynov, defenseman, SKA Saint Petersburg
Artem Zub, defenseman, SKA Saint Petersburg
Andrey Zubarev, defenseman, SKA Saint Petersburg
Bogdan Kiselevich, defenseman, CSKA Moscow
Sergei Andronov, forward, CSKA Moscow
Alexander Barabanov, forward, SKA Saint Petersburg
Pavel Datsyuk, forward, SKA Saint Petersburg
Mikhail Grigorenko, forward, CSKA Moscow
Nikita Gusev, forward, SKA Saint Petersburg
Dinar Khafizullin, forward, SKA Saint Petersburg
Ilya Kablukov, forward, SKA Saint Petersburg
Sergey Kalinin, forward, SKA Saint Petersburg
Kirill Kaprizov, forward, CSKA Moscow
Ilya Kovalchuk, forward, SKA Saint Petersburg
Sergei Mozyakin, forward, Metallurg Magnitogorsk
Nikolay Prokhorkin, forward, SKA Saint Petersburg
Vadim Shipachyov, forward, SKA Saint Petersburg
Sergey Shirokov, forward, SKA Saint Petersburg
Ivan Telegin, forward, CSKA Moscow
Players to Watch
Ilya Kovalchuk
After an 11-year NHL career that saw him score 417 goals in 816 games, winger Ilya Kovalchuk is still on top of his game.
The 34-year-old veteran has registered 31 goals and 32 assists in the KHL this season, and his 63 points is tops in the league.
Kovalchuk is a big reason why SKA Saint Petersburg is the No. 1 team in the league, and his play will largely determine whether the Olympic Athletes from Russia will win gold as expected.
The Atlanta Thrashers selected Kovalchuk with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2001 NHL draft, and he went on to score 30 or more goals in a season on nine occasions in the NHL. He also had six 40-goal campaigns and scored at least 50 twice.
Kovalchuk played in three NHL All-Star Games and won the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy as the NHL's leading goal scorer in 2004.
He also has a history of international success, having won gold in both the World Championships and World Junior Championships. Kovalchuk has yet to do better than bronze at the Olympics, though.
Since Kovalchuk will be facing a level of competition at or below what he generally sees in the KHL, the odds are very much in favor of him being the standout performer at the Pyeongchang Games.
Pavel Datsyuk
Longtime Detroit Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk will be the heart and soul of the Olympic Athletes from Russia hockey team in Pyeongchang as their captain after also skippering Team Russia at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.
The 39-year-old is in the midst of his second season in the KHL, and he is producing at better than a point-per-game clip with 37 points in 35 contests.
As Kovalchuk's teammate with SKA Saint Petersburg, he is well on his way to leading the club to its second consecutive Gagarin Cup.
During his 14-year NHL career, Datsyuk was selected to four All-Star Games, won the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy as the league's most gentlemanly player on four occasions and claimed the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the NHL's best defensive forward three times.
Datsyuk is also a two-time Stanley Cup champion, which makes him the ideal leader for the Olympic Athletes from Russia in a tournament lacking big-time star power elsewhere.
In 953 career NHL regular-season games, Datsyuk registered 918 points, which makes him a potential Hall of Fame candidate down the line. He also had 113 points in 157 playoff contests, suggesting he knows how to perform on the big stage.
With Russia having some question marks in goal and on defense, Datsyuk's two-way game promises to come in handy at the Olympics.
Vadim Shipachyov
Vadim Shipachyov made the leap from the KHL to the NHL for the 2017-18 season after signing with the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, but his venture was short-lived.
After scoring one goal in three games with Golden Knights, Shipachyov opted to go back to Russia rather than accepting an assignment to the AHL.
Vegas has thrived without Shipachyov, and he hasn't lost a step in Russia, as he has put up 25 points in 21 games for SKA Saint Petersburg.
The 30-year-old led the KHL in scoring with 76 points last season, and he continues to be one of the league's elite players along with Kovalchuk and Datsyuk.
He doesn't have the same NHL pedigree as his veteran teammates, but Shipachyov has NHL talent, and it is easy to envision him leading the Olympic Athletes from Russia in scoring in South Korea.
Although Shipachyov is missing out on a magical season in Vegas, winning an Olympic gold medal could vindicate him and prove he made the right decision by going back to his homeland.
Jerseys
Due to the fact the Olympic Athletes from Russia aren't officially representing the nation in Pyeongchang, there were some major restrictions placed on their uniforms.
As seen in the following images courtesy of Slava Malamud from Sov Sport, the jerseys are fairly plain with a red and white color scheme:
Russia Hockey also tweeted a video of the shirts:
While Russia's hockey jerseys usually feature a signature eagle logo, it was not permitted to be used for the Olympic Athletes from Russia.
The uniforms seem to offer as little correlation to the country as possible, which will be the theme for the Olympic Athletes from Russia throughout the Games.
In addition to the generic uniforms, Olympic Athletes from Russia will march under the Olympic flag and be represented by the Olympic anthem.
Prediction
There is a great deal of uncertainty when it comes to how teams will perform in the 2018 Olympic men's hockey tournament due to the NHL's absence, which makes the Olympic Athletes from Russia the safest bet.
All but two players on the roster are split between two KHL teams, which is a level of familiarity no other team in the tournament can boast.
The talent gap between the Olympic Athletes from Russia and other teams is also significant since it rosters multiple former NHL All-Stars.
Canada, the United States, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic have plenty of former NHL players in their own right, but few have achieved the same level of success as those who the Olympic Athletes from Russia are bringing to Pyeongchang.
They aren't without weaknesses since none of their goalies have NHL experience, and their defense is light in that regard as well, but no team can match their firepower up front.
A team comprised primarily of Russian players hasn't won Olympic gold since the Unified Team at the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics, and while a gold medal win wouldn't technically count for Russia, the Olympic Athletes from Russia will make good on their status as favorites and return to the top of the podium in men's hockey.
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