With no NHL, Russia favorite to win gold
Russia, OAR, ROC — whatever the name, now that the NHL is out of the Beijing Olympics, the Russians will be the favorites for the gold medal.
After the NHL withdrew from the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday to save a league schedule upended by virus outbreaks on numerous teams, Europe-based players are set to dominate the Olympic men’s tournament.
That puts the Russians, competing in Beijing as ROC for Russian Olympic Committee, in a strong position to retain the gold medal they won in 2018 under the Olympic Athletes from Russia name. The name changes were required as part of Russia’s sanctions for various doping-related issues across multiple Olympic sports.
Just as it was four years ago, the Kontinental Hockey League remains the strongest league outside of the NHL. Russia has used the big-spending SKA St. Petersburg and CSKA Moscow clubs to keep some younger players at home when they might otherwise have moved to North America.
The Russian roster will be less familiar to North American fans than the 2018 lineup led by Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk, who haven’t officially retired but haven’t played any hockey this season. Kovalchuk may be in Beijing in a manager role for the Russian Hockey Federation. Some 2018 gold medalists are now in the NHL, including Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov, Ottawa Senators defenseman Artem Zub and two of the three goaltenders: the New York Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin and Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin.
Expect center Vadim Shipachyov, briefly of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017-18, to play for the ROC. He has 21 goals and 36 assists in 40 games in the KHL this season for Dynamo Moscow. Experienced forward Mikhail Grigorenko is available because he moved back to Russia this season after spending 2020-21 with the Columbus Blue Jackets, and former New Jersey Devils wing Nikita Gusev is likely to make the roster, too. Former Los Angeles Kings defenseman Slava Voynov has not played in the NHL since a 2014 domesticviolence arrest and subsequent suspension, but he also is considered part of Russia’s plans.
The Russians can be beaten, though. Finland proved that Sunday with a 3-2 overtime win in Moscow during the Channel One Cup, a tournament used as a pre-Olympic tuneup for non-NHL players.
The game-winning goal was a bizarre one, awarded by the referees because of a penalty on a Finland breakaway facing the empty Russian net. The puck did not enter the net. Finland won all three of its games in the tournament but needed overtime twice.
Former NHL players who are candidates for Finland include forwards Markus Granlund and Leo Komarov and defenseman Julius Honka.
Canada sent a team to the tournament, too, beating Sweden but losing to Finland and Russia with a roster assembled from clubs in six different countries. Two free agents, defenseman Jason Demers and center Eric Fehr, brought much-needed experience with 699 and 652 career NHL games, respectively, and both subsequently signed with the same KHL team.
Former Montreal Canadiens head coach Claude Julien is in line to be behind the bench for Canada, with ex-Arizona Coyotes captain Shane Doan the top candidate to serve as general manager.
USA Hockey soon could turn to assistant executive director of hockey operations and retired NHL goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck as GM. Former Rangers head coach David Quinn is a leading candidate to get the U.S. Olympic job overseeing a roster that includes some college players.