Within the Euro Hockey Tour tournament, Team Russia will play two games against Czech Republic in February. As announced, Team Russia head coach Oleg Znarok decided to have a look to younger players, with the roster full of under-24 players, with the exception being former NHL player Alexander Semin. The team has an average age of 22 years and these games will help some of the younger Russian players to gain some much-needed international experience. This will be the first call-up to the senior national team for 14 players. The roster features only one player from the recent WJC, Andrei Svetlakov. The two games will be played on February 11th and 13th, respectively in Trinec and Ostrava.
This is how the roster will look like, with eventual draft information in brackets. * denotes a draft eligible player:
Goalies:
Ivan Nalimov (Admiral Vladivostok, Chicago Blachkawks 2014)
Igor Shestyorkin (SKA St. Petersburg, New York Rangers 2014)
Ilya Sorokin (CSKA Moscow, New York Islanders 2014)
Defensemen:
Artyom Alyayev (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod) *
Alexei Bereglazov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
Vladislav Gavrikov (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, Columbus Blue Jackets 2015)
Maxim Ignatovich (Sibir Novosibirsk)
Ilya Lyubushkin (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
Andrei Mironov (Dynamo Moscow, Colorado Avalanche 2015)
Igor Ozhiganov (CSKA Moscow)
Ziyat Paigin (HC Sochi, Edmonton Oilers 2015)
Sergei Tereshchenko (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
Forwards:
Vladimir Bryukvin (Dynamo Moscow) *
Pavel Buchnevich (SKA St. Petersburg, New York Rangers 2013)
Vladimir Galuzin (Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod)
Anatoly Golyshev (Avtomobilist Ekaterinburg) *
Nikita Gusev (SKA St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay Lightning 2012)
Andrei Loktionov (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl)
Roman Lyubimov (CSKA Moscow)
Nikolai Prokhorkin (Salavat Yulaev Ufa, Los Angeles Kings 2012)
Alexander Semin (Metallurg Magnitogorsk)
Maxim Shalunov (Sibir Novosibirsk)
Sergei Shumakov (Sibir Novosibirsk)
Andrei Svetlakov (CSKA Moscow) *
Ivan Telegin (CSKA Moscow)
The roster will comprise some players with significant North American experience. Other than Alexander Semin, who played 701 NHL games if counting both regular season and playoffs, the Russian lineup will feature Andrei Loktionov, Ivan Telegin, Maxim Shalunov, Vladimir Bryukvin, Nikolai Prokhorkin – all these players had at least a fraction of a season in North America at NHL, AHL, or CHL level.
It will be particularly interesting to see how some highly-touted players, like Pavel Buchnevich, will do on international ice, other than seeing players who are having breakout KHL seasons, like Oilers draftee Ziyat Paigin or 95-born Anatoly Golyshev battle for a spot at the 2016 IIHF WC in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Team Russia head coach Oleg Znarok is supposed to cut at least one defenseman and one forward for the final roster for the games in Czech Republic.