Photo: Andre Ringuette / HHOF-IIHF Images
There’s still more hockey to be played for Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Dmitry Orlov. This morning, less than 12 hours after the Capitals’ season-ending loss to the Penguins, Russia announced that they were calling up the three Caps to their World Championship team.
The 2016 World Championship is being held in Saint Petersburg and Ovechkin’s hometown of Moscow.
Ovechkin, in his 12th career world championship, joins a Russian team which has struggled at times on home ice with an opening loss to the Czech Republic. Russia then beat Kazakhstan and Latvia.
Russia’s next game is against Denmark on Thursday in Moscow.
The Russian national team registered only two goaltenders and 18 skaters, leaving roster spots open for one more goalie and four more skaters. Three of those spots will now be taken by the newly freed up Caps players.
According to the World Championship news release, the Caps troika “could potentially play their first game on Saturday in the match against Switzerland.”
Ovechkin has won three World Championships in 2008, 2012, and 2014. Evgeny Kuznetsov, the Caps regular season leading scorer, played at the Worlds in 2012, 2013, and 2014, winning two gold medals and a silver. Orlov will be playing in his second World Championship. In 2014, Orlov won gold but also broke his wrist in a game, forcing him to miss the Caps’ entire 2014-15 season.
All Caps will be available to speak to the media tmrw. This includes Ovechkin, Orlov & Kuznetsov before they leave for Russia #CapitalsTalk
— Jill Sorenson (@JillSorenson17) May 11, 2016
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