Former NHLers spearhead Russian hockey roster

Slava Voynov and Artem Anisimov are among the former NHL players named to Russia's roster for the Beijing Olympics.

The Russians are the defending champions after winning gold in Pyeongchang four years ago when the NHL also did not send players. They should be the favorite once again in another Winter Games without the world's best players, even with Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk not returning.

The Russian Hockey Federation named its 25-man roster on Sunday that features seven players back from the 2018 team. Among the returnees are KHL leading scorer Vadim Shipachyov and ex-NHL players Mikhail Grigorenko, Nikita Gusev and Nikita Nesterov.

"On paper they're probably going to have the strongest team of all the teams in this upcoming Olympics, and they will be good again," said Marco Sturm, who coached Germany to a silver medal in 2018 when it lost to the Russians in the final. "It doesn't mean they're just going to walk through this tournament and win it all. Some other teams, some other countries will have a good tournament as well and will give them a hard time."

The Russians will have three different goaltenders from 2018 because 38-year-old Vasily Koshechkin was omitted after starting in Pyeongchang and Igor Shesterkin and Ilya Sorokin are in the NHL. Timur Bilyalov, Ivan Fedotov and Alexander Samonov were the goalies named to the team.

Among the other newcomers with NHL experience are forwards Sergey Plotnikov and Anton Slepyshev, while the team is coached by retired NHL forward Alexei Zhamnov.

Goalie Dmitry Shugaev, defenseman Semyon Chistyakov and forwards Alexander Kadeikin, Andrei Kuzmenko, Vladimir Tkachyov and Stanislav Galiev are set to travel to Beijing as reserve players.

Voynov, 32, won the Stanley Cup with the Los Angeles Kings in 2012 and 2014. He was suspended for one season in 2019 by the NHL for domestic violence but has not returned, opting to stay in the KHL.

Anisimov, 33, put up 393 points in 814 NHL regular-season and playoff games from 2009-21. He spent last season with the Ottawa Senators.

After winning in South Korea as the "Olympic Athletes from Russia", the team will play as the "Russian Olympic Committee" this time. The Russians open the tournament Feb 9 against Switzerland, and they also face the Czech Republic and Denmark in group play.

Agencies via Xinhua