Ovechkin and Michkov out of the top-6: Russians to dominate at 4 Nations

Dose
Crédit: ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA - 2022/05/05: Matvei Michkov (No.39) of Russia U20 seen in action during the Liga Stavok St. Petersburg Cup, hockey tournament match between Russia and Russia U20 at Jubilee Arena in Saint Petersburg (Final score; Russia 4:2 Russia U20) (Photo by Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The line-up for the 4 Nations Showdown is now complete. The tournament, to be held in February, will see the best players from Canada, the USA, Sweden and Finland go head-to-head to see who is the best hockey nation.

However, an important player is missing with the absence of Russia, which is currently being ostracized from world sport due to the war in Ukraine.

And for those wondering why countries like the Czech Republic and Slovakia aren’t taking part in the competition, it’s because all players must play in the NHL to be eligible, and these nations don’t have enough to form a complete team.

On the other hand, it might be interesting to create a Team Europe with players from countries not taking part in the tournament.

But back to our potatoes. Gino Hard lent himself to the exercise of making a projection of what the Russian team might have looked like if it had taken part in the 4 Nations Confrontation.

It’s an impressive team on paper.

First of all, in goal: it’s a really solid goalkeeping line. Possibly the best in the Confrontation if Russia were involved.

While Canada, and Quebec in particular, has been struggling to produce elite NHL goaltenders for some time, Russia has been developing several excellent ones.

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The attack, too, packs a punch, with a number of forwards who are very dangerous with the puck. The left wing is particularly powerful, with four players who would play on a first line with any team in the League.

The center line lacks a little depth compared to the wings, but overall, it’s a very good, well-balanced attack.

However, the Russian defense looks a little more ordinary on paper. The team lacks attack-minded defensemen and, in particular, the presence of an NHL elite line general.

Nevertheless, it’s a defensive brigade that would be solid in its zone and could facilitate the work of its excellent goaltenders.

It would be interesting to see how this team would have performed at the tournament, but as long as Russia is banned from international sporting competitions, we can only speculate.

Overtime

– Habs Weekly.

– Already 25 points for Michkov.

– New inductees.

– Another big performance from Jokic.

– Nice mark for Chris Paul.

– Double bronze for Canada.