MOSCOW – The Russian Hockey Federation published a candidate list for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver containing 50 names.
The list includes 19 NHL players – nearly every Russian who plays in the league – and 31 players from the Russian KHL. The organization has previously announced that the final roster with 23 players, which is to be announced by the end of December, will have a balanced share between NHL and KHL players.
Among the six goalkeepers is Edmonton’s Nikolai Khabibulin, who stopped to play for the national team after the 2002 Olympics but is obviously considering a comeback on the international stage.
Khabibulin is one of the players who were not invited to the Olympic camp in August, but who still made it to the candidate list.
The presence of Ottawa winger Alexei Kovalev could also be described as a minor surprise. Coach Bykov has not selected the enigmatic forward to any World Championships after the Turin Olympics, even when Kovalev was available and willing.
The biggest absentee on the list of national coach Vyacheslav Bykov is former NHL star Alexei Yashin. The St. Petersburg forward is currently ranked third in scoring in the Russian league. The 35-year-old played in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 Olympics, but hasn’t represented Russia since.
Also not considered is Nikolai Zherdev, who came back to Russia to Atlant Mytishchi after a 58-point season with the New York Rangers, and NHL veteran Vyacheslav Kozlov, who hasn’t played for Russia since the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
Russia goes to Vancouver as the defending 2008 and 2009 IIHF World Champion. The last time Russia won the Olympic gold was 1992 in Albertville.
Russia’s 50-man candidate list
Goalkeepers: Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenix, NHL), Simeon Varlamov (Washington, NHL), Alexander Eremenko (Salavat, RUS), Evgeni Nabokov (San Jose, NHL), Vasili Koshechkin (Togliatti, RUS), Nikolai Khabibulin (Edmonton, NHL).
Defencemen: Vitali Atyushov (Magnitogorsk, RUS), Vitali Vishnevsky (Yaroslavl, RUS), Anton Volchenkov (Ottawa, NHL), Sergei Gonchar (Pittsburgh, NHL), Denis Grebeshkov (Edmonton, NHL), Alexander Guskov (Yaroslavl, RUS), Sergei Zubov (St. Petersburg, RUS), Dmitri Kalinin (Salavat, RUS), Maxim Kondratiev (Salavat, RUS), Konstantin Korneyev (CSKA Moscow, RUS), Denis Kulyash (CSKA Moscow, RUS), Andrei Markov (Montreal, NHL), Ilya Nikulin (Kazan, RUS), Vitali Proshkin (Salavat, RUS), Oleg Tverdovsky (Salavat, RUS), Fedor Tyutin (Columbus, NHL).
Forwards: Evgeni Artyukhin (Anaheim, NHL), Maxim Afinogenov (Atlanta, NHL), Konstantin Gorovikov (St. Petersburg, RUS), Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit, NHL), Danis Zaripov (Kazan, RUS), Sergei Zinoviev (Salavat, RUS), Alexei Kovalev (Ottawa, NHL), Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta, NHL), Viktor Kozlov (Salavat, RUS), Nikolai Kulemin (Toronto, NHL), Anton Kuryanov (Omsk, RUS), Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh, NHL), Alexei Mikhnov (Yaroslavl, RUS), Sergei Mozyakin (Mytishchi, RUS), Alexei Morozov (Kazan, RUS), Ivan Nepryayev (Dynamo Moscow, RUS), Alexander Ovechkin (Washington, NHL), Alexander Perezhogin (Salavat, RUS), Alexander Radulov (Salavat, RUS), Maxim Rybin (St. Petersburg, RUS), Oleg Saprykin (Dynamo Moscow, RUS), Alexander Semin (Washington, NHL), Maxim Sushinsky (St. Petersburg, RUS), Petr Schastlivy (CSKA Moscow, RUS), Andrei Taratukhin (Salavat, RUS), Alexei Tereschenko (Kazan, RUS), Sergei Fedorov (Magnitogorsk, RUS), Alexander Frolov (Los Angeles, NHL).
