Today, Russia announced the list of players who will be invited to participate in the tryouts for the national team in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. The team is almost split evenly between NHL players and KHL players as Russia looks for their third major title in as many years.
Most of the players who featured in the team’s 2009 World Championship campaign were invited along with those who were in the midst of a playoff series. Notably missing from the invitees are Nikolai Khabibulin, Slava Kozlov, and Sergei Mozyakin who lead the KHL in scoring with 76 points in 56 games.
Below is the list of the players who will be invited to the CSKA facilities in Moscow for the shot to restore national pride to a country who has not captured Olympic gold since the days of the Soviet Union.
The camp will be held Aug. 29-Sep. 1. Teams have until Dec. 30 to submit final rosters, although they can make injury substitutions up until Feb. 15, the day before the Olympic tournament begins in Vancouver.
Goaltenders
Ilya Bryzgalov (Phoenix Coyotes)
Alexander Eremenko (Salavat Yulaev Ufa, KHL)
Evgeni Nabokov (San Jose Sharks)
Simeon Varlamov (Washington Capitals)
Defensemen
Vitali Atyushov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk, KHL)
Sergei Gonchar (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Denis Grebeshkov (Edmonton Oilers)
Dmitri Kalinin (Salavat Yulaev Ufa, KHL)
Maxim Kondratiev (Salavat Yulaev Ufa, KHL)
Konstantin Korneyev (CSKA Moscow, KHL)
Andrei Markov (Montreal Canadiens)
Ilya Nikulin (Ak Bars Kazan, KHL)
Vitali Proshkin (Salavat Yulaev Ufa, KHL)
Oleg Tverdovsky (Salavat Yulaev Ufa, KHL)
Fedor Tyutin (Columbus Blue Jackets)
Vitali Vishnevsky (Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, KHL)
Anton Volchenkov (Ottawa Senators)
Alexei Zhitnik (Dynamo Moscow, KHL)
Sergei Zubov (Dallas Stars)
Forwards
Evgeny Artyukhin (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Maxim Afinogenov (Buffalo Sabres)
Konstantin Gorovikov (SKA St. Petersburg, KHL)
Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit Red Wings)
Danis Zaripov (Ak Bars Kazan, KHL)
Sergei Zinoviev (Salavat Yulaev Ufa, KHL)
Alexei Kovalev (Ottawa Senators)
Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta Thrashers)
Viktor Kozlov (Salavat Yulaev Ufa, KHL)
Nikolai Kulemin (Toronto Maple Leafs)
Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins)
Alexei Morozov (Ak Bars Kazan, KHL)
Alex Ovechkin (Washington Capitals)
Alexander Radulov (Salavat Yulaev Ufa, KHL)
Oleg Saprykin (Dynamo Moscow, KHL)
Alexander Semin (Washington Capitals)
Alexei Tereschenko (Ak Bars Kazan, KHL)
Sergei Fedorov (Metallurg Magnitogorsk, KHL)
Alexander Frolov (Los Angeles Kings)