Washington Capitals: A First Look at Who Could Play in Beijing

Russian Olympic Committee

The athletes from Russia will be required to continue to compete under the name “Russian Olympic Committee” throughout the 2022 Winter Olympics just like we saw in Tokyo. Regardless, Alex Ovechkin and Dmitry Orlov are shoe-ins to represent their country. Ovechkin, the greatest Russian hockey player of all-time, will once again be a cornerstone of the Russian team. Ovechkin represented his country in 2006, 2010 and 2014 scoring 8 goals and adding 3 assists in 17 Olympic games. Ovechkin has yet to win a medal, his team finishing fourth in 2006 in Turin being the closest he has come so far. Ovi will be looking to add his first Olympic medal to an already decorated professional hockey career.

Dmitry Orlov has never participated in the Olympics, but since the last time the NHL allowed its athletes to compete, Orlov has blossomed into one of the best defenseman on his team. A mainstay on Russia’s World Championship teams since 2016, Orlov will surely join his teammate Alex Ovechkin in Beijing.

Notable Capitals players who won’t be joining Ovechkin and Orlov are Evgeny Kuznetsov, who is still banned from international play due to a failed drug test in 2019,  and Ilya Samsonov, who simply hasn’t shown enough consistency at the NHL level to get one of the goalie positions. The NHL has no shortage of talented Russian goalies; Andrei Vasilevski, Semyon Varlamov, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Igor Shesterkin all appear to have made better cases to be on the team than the young Samsonov who will have to prove he is up to the task to be considered for the next Olympic Games.