A day after Team Canada all but finalized their roster for the 2005 IIHF World Championships, Russia did so today. 36 players have been named to the team’s training camp roster, with several notable omissions.
Those not invited of note are Sergei Fedorov (ANA), Sergei Samsonov and Sergei Gonchar (BOS), Alexei Zhamnov (UFA-PHI), Nikolai Khabibulin (TB), and Evgeni Nabokov (SJ). Youngsters such as Alexander Ovechkin (WAS) and Evgeni Malkin (PIT), the top 2 picks in the latest draft, are invited.
A trio of Habs were invited, one of which is D Andrei Markov. The other, Alexander Perezhogin, surprised some, given his status in the AHL, but he played well this season with Avangard Omsk. Current UFA Alexei Kovalev, who played with Montreal last season, will also attend camp.
Team Russia has until April 29th to cut their roster down to 23 players. In related news, Team Sweden is expected to name their training camp roster on Thursday.