Slava Voynov and Artem Anisimov are among the former NHL players named to Russia’s roster for the upcoming Beijing Olympics.
The Russians are the defending men’s hockey champions after winning gold in Pyeongchang four years ago, when the NHL also did not send players. They should be the favorites once again in another Winter Games without the world’s best players, even with Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk not returning.
The Russian Hockey Federation named its 25-man roster Sunday, featuring seven players back from the 2018 team. Among the returnees are KHL leading scorer Vadim Shipachyov and ex-NHL players Mikhail Grigorenko, Nikita Gusev and Nikita Nesterov.
“On paper they’re probably going to have the strongest team of all the teams in this upcoming Olympics, and they will be good again,” said Marco Sturm, who coached Germany to a silver medal in 2018 when it lost to the Russians in the final. “It doesn’t mean they’re just going to walk through this tournament and win it all. Some…
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