2012 World Juniors Preview: Team Russia

A year ago, Russia was overlooked when evaluating the 2011 tournament. The once mighty power was taking a back seat to the likes of Canada, USA, and Sweden, with pluckly little Switzerland drawing more interest from fickle Canadian media members. In eleven days, they shook the hockey world, with stunning comebacks against Finland, Sweden, and most of all Canada to take the gold.

What last year's team lacked in NHL prospects they made up for in experience. It was an older lineup, almost exclusively made up of 19 year olds (only Yevgeni Kuznetsov was eligible to return this year), and the core of the team was formed at the CHL All-Stars vs. Russian Selects Super Series which became the first Russian team to win that series. Valeri Bragin coached both those teams and helped form an identity, one that was more a predatory counter-puncher than a dominant possession based team.

This year's team is a lot different. The forward group is far more talented, but also noticeably younger. Top 2012 Draft eigibles Nail Yakupov and Mikhail Grigorenko will be asked to play significant roles as 18 and 17 year olds respectively, and Russia's 1992 birth year is a bit thinner than usual, despite the presence of Kuznetsov.

So while there is a lot more hype around Russia going into this year, there are actually considerably more question marks about how they'll compete in this tournament with the best nations. Their defence took a major hit with an injury to the offensively dynamic Alexei Marchenko, and that really was one area in which Russia couldn't take a big injury.

That being said, the North American media contingent is a lot more aware about Russia's talent level this year. That's partly due to the elite talent that is coming over to play major junior the past couple of years, but also a recognition that maybe Russia's new junior league, the MHL, might be helping get their younger players develop quicker, by giving them more ice time against their peers. This year's team has 13 players who have played a majority of their season in the MHL so far, with 6 major junior players and three full-fledged KHLers. All but two of the players, Ivan Telegin and Artyom Sergeyev, spent some time in the MHL, and that includes all the CHLers.

After the jump, we look at how their roster breaks down:

This is an incredibly skilled group of forwards. The line of Gusev-Grigorenko-Kucherov have played together for a long time, starting in CSKA's system and also expanding out into the Subway Super Series this past year. Grigorenko and Kucherov lit up the U18s this past year, with Kucherov putting up 3 points per game and Grigorenko being just behind that pace. And they might just be the 2nd line. Telegin, Kuznetsov, and Yakupov have spent some time together, while Khokhalechev, Kosov and Barbashev could be a force as well. This is a team with a lot of different players that can beat you, but one has to wonder whether they are physically mature enough to compete with the Americans and Canadians. There also isn't a lot of defensive accumen in this group, with Grigorenko probably being the most accomplished two-way forward of the group, but he's only 17 and that part of his game is still a work in progress.

But still... wow. There isn't many nations that can put that kind of forward talent together all at once for a junior hockey tournament, and it'll be fun to watch them at work.

If you're confounded by this group on defence... you're not alone. Aside from Arzamastev, who probably should have been drafted last year by a NHL team, and Nesterov, there isn't a lot of depth here. Antipin and Naumenkov have some talent, but when we're comparing against the likes of Sweden, USA, and Canada this is a terrible defence. The forwards are where Russia will live, but the defence is likely how they will die (if they do). It's not a group with a lot of anything in particular: offensive ability, defensive smarts, experience, size, or even speed. It's collectively a very middling group that will try and keep it simple and get the puck to their exciting forwards as quickly as possible.

Andrei Makarov should get the starting duties here, and he's been one of the best goaltenders in the WHL this year so far. Kostenko will probably see backup duties, I'm actually not sure how this will all shake out even with their first game so close at hand. Vasilievski is one of the top draft prospects for goaltenders this year (as is Makarov as a guy who was passed over once), but I don't know if Russia will go with two underaged goaltenders. This is another area in which Russia has the talent, but maybe they aren't old enough to handle the top 19 year old players of the other nations.

Russia has a lot going for it, but no one is going to take them lightly this year. It's a very talented group with some massive holes on defence that will be difficult to overcome.

Russia U20 Schedule

Date	City	Opponent	Result/Time
Dec 20	Red Deer	USA	W, 6-3
Dec 22	Lethbridge	Czech Rep.	W, 5-3
Dec 26	Calgary	Switzerland	8:00 PM MST
Dec 28	Calgary	Slovakia	8:00 PM MST
Dec 29	Calgary	Latvia	8:00 PM MST
Dec 31	Calgary	Sweden	8:00 PM MST

Prediction: 2nd in Group B.