The status of the Russian national team at the upcoming Ice Hockey World Cup, which is scheduled for 2024, is still unknown. The NHL is still shrugging their shoulders and thinking how, under the current conditions, Russian stars could be invited to the tournament. One of the options looks incredibly interesting and promising.

Represent a continent, not a country

In the current conditions of Russia’s complete isolation in world sports, NHL officials are afraid to even whisper about the participation of our national team in the upcoming World Cup. But the hand is not yet raised to give up Russian stars – this is too serious a marketing blow, given that our NHL players are incredibly popular across the ocean.

Two-time Olympic champion Vyacheslav Fetisov mentioned what solution to the problem can be offered in North America:

– There, they say, options like the European team to make – he told RIA Novosti.

And include Russian players among the Europeans. Patriotically minded citizens in Russia may be angered by this idea, but from a hockey point of view, the initiative is very interesting. If it is possible to implement it and bring together the best hockey players in Europe, Ovechkin and Co. will have a real chance to compete for the Cup.

European diamonds

In 2016, the European team also took part in the World Cup and became a sensation of the tournament. It was assembled from players representing non-hockey countries: Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Slovenia and others. At the group stage, the Europeans humiliated the USA (3:0), outplayed the Czech Republic in overtime (3:2) and lost only to Canada (1:4). Having left the “group of death” and leaving the Czechs and Americans out of the playoffs, in the semifinals they dealt with the Swedes in overtime (3:2). The fairy tale ended in the final – the Europeans could not oppose anything to the Canadians (1:3, 1:2).

Photo: © Bruce Bennett / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

The success of the Europeans is absolutely logical: they included only real stars – the Slovaks Zdeno Hara, Marian Gaborik and Marian Hossa, the Slovene Anze Kopitar, the Norwegian Mats Cukarello. Unlike Sweden, the Czech Republic and Finland, which did not have enough truly high-class players so that their teams simply did not have any weak spots.

Real chance to win

Now imagine if all these European diamonds are mixed with selected Russian players. This is a real dream team that even Canada never dreamed of!

Such an idea can be beneficial not only for the NHL, but also for those Russians who have long dreamed of success at the international level. This, of course, is an allusion to Alexander Ovechkin, who suffered painfully from missing the last two Olympics. Just imagine the triples: Ovi – Draisaitl – Kucherov or Panarin – Kopitar – Kaprizov. Only by name they can already qualify for the final on paper.

The dream Team

Speaking of who can join the best Russian hockey players: over the years, neither Zuccarello, who creates beauty with Kaprizov in Minnesota, nor the leader of the Kings Kopitar have become worse. One of the best forwards in the world, the German Draisaitl is a center that Russian hockey players could not even dream of.

Mats Cukarello and Kirill Kaprizov / Photo: © REUTERS / Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

On defense, along with Mikhail Sergachev, Dmitry Orlov, Swiss Roman Yosi from Nashville, one of the best defense players of recent years, and rising star from Detroit Moritz Seider, recognized as Rookie of the Year last season, can play.

If such a team, by analogy with 2016, is headed by some strong specialist with European roots, such as the German Canadian Ralph Kruger or, for example, Igor Larionov, if they dare to call him, then such a situation simply cannot upset real hockey fans from Russia.