In the spirit of the NHL announcing quarter-century teams for each of its 30 franchises that have played since 2000, I thought I’d try a similar exercise by country – first and second teams. It’s not limited to NHL performance, although that carries a lot of weight. International play for the country also weighs heavily. To be eligible, a player needn’t have necessarily played for the country at a major tournament, but he had (or has) to be eligible.
Countries chosen have to have played in at least four major international tournaments (Olympic games, top-division IIHF World Championships or World Cups of Hockey) since 2000. Based on that arbitrary number, 20 countries qualify. Great Britain barely makes the cut with four top-level World Championships, while Hungary with three, South Korea and Poland each with two, and China with one do not.
I’m revealing them alphabetically starting with Austria, although the four teams in the 4 Nations Face-Off will be held back until the end. Scroll down for links to other teams published so far.
RUSSIA
First Team
F:
Alexander Ovechkin
F:
Evgeni Malkin
F: Ilya
Kovalchuk
D:
Sergei Gonchar
D:
Andrei Markov
G: Sergei Bobrovsky
Second Team
F:
Pavel Datsyuk
F:
Nikita Kucherov
F:
Artemi Panarin
D:
Sergei
Zubov
D:
Dmitri Orlov
G:
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Russian has not played in an IIHF-sanctioned tournament in over three years but Russian players continue to play in the NHL and elsewhere.
Unlike many of the teams I’m doing this exercise for, the problem with picking quarter-century teams for Russia is the sheer amount of star power. If we look at a list of which Russian players have performed the best in the NHL statisically since the turn of the millenium, the players above are the names that come up and it’s tough to think of a reason to question the inclusion of any of them.
Factoring in international performance, Kovalchuk moves up from the second team to the first as he’s the points leader for Russia in that time. Likewise, Vasilevskiy edged out Evgeni Nabokov for the second-team goalie spot based on international results.
The Hockey News - Nikita Zaitsev signs 4-year deal with SKA St. Petersburg
Veteran Russian defenseman Nikita Zaitsev has signed a four-year contract with SKA St. Petersburg, the KHL club announced on Thursday.
Agree or disagree with the selections? Comment below and check back daily as more international quarter-century teams are revealed.