The game usually pits NHL and KHL stars against each other, but teams will be made via a draft this year.
Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin, along with teammate Aliaksei Protas, will be back on the ice this summer in a star-studded showdown.
Both Ovechkin and Protas are playing in the annual "Match of the Year," a charity game featuring KHL and NHL stars, on July 25 in St. Petersburg. Usually, teams are split by league, but this year, there will be a draft, with former Capitals Ilya Kovalchuk and Sergei Federov serving as general managers for Team Panarin and Team Sergachev.
Ovechkin is still deciding on his NHL future and told FONBET that he plans to have that decision at some point in July. The 40-year-old finished this past season with 32 goals and 32 assists for 64 points while appearing in all 82 games for Washington.
Protas, meanwhile, is coming off his fifth year with the Capitals and had 25 goals and 27 assists for 52 points in 76 games. He also got to spend the end of the year playing with his younger brother, Ilya, who got called up to D.C. after a stellar rookie year in Hershey.
Along with Ovechkin and Protas, former Washington defenseman Dmitry Orlov will play, among other NHL stars.
Here is the full roster:
Forwards: Alex Ovechkin, Aliaksei Protas, Artemi Panarin, Pavel Buchnevich, Kirill Kaprizov, Vasily Podkolzin, Matvei Michkov, Kirill Marchenko, Andrei Kuzmenko, Valeri Nichushkin, Andrei Svechnikov, Evgeni Malkin, Marat Khusnutdinov, Vladimir Tkachev, Vadim Shipachev, Alexander Zharovsky, Prokhor Poltapov, Dmitry Silantyev, Dmitri Jaskin, Artem Galimov, Vitaly Kravtsov, Konstantin Okulov, Nikolay Goldobin, Mikhail Maltsev, Alexander Barabanov, Yegor Surin, Maxim Shalunov, Alexander Radulov
Defensemen: Dmitry Orlov, Mikhail Sergachev, Dmitry Simashev, Vladislav Gavrikov, Alexander Romanov, Ilya Lyubushkin, Ivan Provorov, Alexander Nikishin, Pavel Mintyukov, Daniil Pylenkov, Damir Sharipzyanov, Nikita Lyamkin, Grigory Dronov, Rushan Rafikov, Yegor Yakovlev
Goaltenders: Igor Shesterkin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Ilya Sorokin, Yaroslav Askarov, Nikita Serebryakov, Maxim Dorozhko