I was just rehearsing the ususal who do we get for WHC...
Fun fact. Of the top teams in the league only Boston has no Russians on the roster(which is fine by me as I somehow never liked Boston).
In fact the top 10 in the league is filled with russians stars.
Now the bottom 10 is adifferent story.
7 out of 10 teams don't have any Russians on them.
Montreal got Kovalchuk just recently and we all know he is just playing out his farewell stint. He is still capable if you know how to use him, but he is no Kovalchuk of old.
Gusev is on an ecpectedly bad team and he is doing just fine by humself given the circumstances.
Ottawa - same. Bad as could be expected. And has become a fine refuge for some russian depth players who are doing good in their roles there.
And that's only the bottom 10.
The Rangers sit at 21 right now, but above them it's a Russian-less void of the middle 10 teams with Florida somewhere inbetween and Toronto who really struggle(especially after Mikheyev's injury
). And Columbus with Gavrikov is 11th and can even malke the the playoffs out of a pretty tough division.
Gives: Russians in the NHL are doing mighty fine.
Note: I obviously don't count some short-term callups as roster players just yet.