The NHL is announcing the initial World Cup of Hockey rosters today. You may have been around at the crack of dawn to see the unsurprising news, but Pavel Datsyuk has been named to Team Russia’s roster:
ICYMI: Team Russia named 16 players to its initial roster for the #WCH2016. https://t.co/T4pYdLkndE pic.twitter.com/wgQG0j4s8o
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 2, 2016
Team Russia looks to be a pure unadulterated scoring threat from top to bottom with players like Pavel Datsyuk, Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Vladimir Tarasenko. Russia had an upsetting outing at the Sochi Olympics (USA, USA, USA), and look to come back with a vengeance in the World Cup. Not going to be easy with the lackluster defense that they will have. Here’s the announced 16-man roster:
Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets, G
Semyon Varlamov, Colorado Avalanche, G
Andrei Vasilevskiy, Tampa Bay Lightning, G
Dmitry Kulikov, Florida Panthers, D
Andrei Markov, Montreal Canadiens, D
Dmitry Orlov, Washington Capitals, D
Artem Anisimov, Chicago Blackhawks, F
Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings, F
Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning, F
Nikolay Kulemin, New York Islanders, F
Evgeny Kuznetsov, Washington Capitals, F
Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins, F
Vladislav Namestnikov, Tampa Bay Lightning, F
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals, F
Artemi Panarin, Chicago Blackhawks, F
Vladimir Tarasenko, St. Louis Blues, F
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The Red Wings did not have any Finns named to Team Finland, but are expected to have a handful of names in the mix later on today. We’ll keep you posted!
