NHL teams
Scott Burnside, ESPN Senior Writer 8y

Final Team Russia roster projection for the World Cup

It was a bit of a surprise that the first 16 players named by Team Russia in March were all NHL players, a marked departure from recent international best-on-best tournaments in which the Kontinental Hockey League was well represented. That's a function of the World Cup of Hockey being an NHL-NHLPA production and the fact that the KHL is going through its own growing pains. It will be interesting to see which team Pavel Datsyuk is representing, assuming he plays in the tournament in spite of talk he's leaving the Detroit Red Wings and returning to Russia. My final seven are in bold.

Forwards

Four spots remain in the forward group and I'm guessing there will be room for KHL and NHL veterans in former national team captain Ilya Kovalchuk and former Nashville Predators Alexander Radulov, who is looking to return to the NHL next season. Kovalchuk had a tumultuous season in Russia but he's an institution and knows the NHL game well, as does Radulov. I had Nail Yakupov on the right side, although he had another up-and-down year with the Edmonton Oilers, so I dropped him. Valeri Nichushkin had a miserable playoffs for the Dallas Stars, with just one point in 10 games, so I moved Grigorenko into the 13th forward spot. One player to watch for will be Vadim Shipachyov, a left-handed shot who can play center and who enjoyed a spectacular World Championships.

Defensemen

Team Russia has four more defensemen to name, which speaks to the fluid (not very deep) nature of the Russian defensive pool. Do Medvedev's legal issues -- he faces drunk driving and drug charges relating to an incident in the Philadelphia area after the Flyers' season ended -- change his availability? He is coming off his first season in the NHL and had lots of ups and downs. Alexei Marchenko played in three postseason games for the Red Wings and I moved him in ahead of veteran Fedor Tyutin, although Tyutin could slide in if Medvedev is out. As powerful as the Russians are up front, the blue line still stands as the one element that might keep them from challenging for a World Cup championship.

Goaltenders

All three goaltenders were named as part of the original 16 roster members on March 2, but the interesting part will be whether Andrei Vasilevskiy, who has filled in admirably for the injured Ben Bishop in the playoffs for the Tampa Bay Lightning, surges ahead of Varlamov and Bobrovsky, both of whom had inconsistent seasons for the Colorado Avalanche and Columbus Blue Jackets, respectively. Bobrovsky played well at the World Championships but the World Cup is a different beast altogether. This will be one of the key storylines for the Russians if they're ever going to get over the hump in best-on-best play, especially given the team's lack of defensive depth.

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