International Olympic committee has been harsh on Russians following Sochi Olympic pee-pee (doping) scandal.

Olympic Athletes from Russia (Team Russia) will have to be built from 42 selected players that were allowed to participate in the 2018 Winter Games. It's all fun and games but IOC hasn't given Russian Hockey Federation much to work with.

The RHF has the following players to choose from:

Sergei Andronov, Alexander Barabanov, Anton Burdasov, Vyacheslav Voynov, Vladislav Gavrikov, Nikita Gusev, Mikhail Grigorenko, Pavel Datsyuk, Vasily Demchenko, Artyom Zub, Andrei Zubarev, Sergei Kalinin, Kirill Kaprizov, Bogdan Kiselevich, Ilya Kovalchuk, Vasily Koshechkin, Ilya Kablukov, Evgeny Ketov, Pavel Kraskovsky, Yegor Korshkov, Roman Lyubimov, Ilya Lyubushkin, Alexei Marchenko, Sergei Mozyakin, Nikita Nesterov, Nikolai Prokhorkin, Yegor Rykov, Ilya Samsonov, Andrei Svetlakov, Ilya Sorokin, Viktor Tikhonov, Ivan Telegin, Vladimir Tkachyov, Nikita Tryamkin, Maxim Shalunov, Alexander Sharychenkov, Sergei Shirokov, Vadim Shipachyov, Sergei Shumakov, Igor Shestyorkin, Dinar Khafizullin, Yegor Yakovlev.

Surprising thing is that Vadim Shipachyov has made the list, as according to speculations in late 2017, it was said that he would be ineligible to take part at the Olympics as he wasn't on the preliminary list of players submitted by FHR.

In summer Shipachyov had made the choice to sign with Vegas Golden Knights and Russia's stance was - Either you sign in the NHL or you stay in Russia and get to go to the Olympics. Shipachyov's tenure in the NHL didn't last, but he is still not expected to play any part of Team Russia's potential Olympic success.

IOC also decided to not invite five players from Russia, not explaining why in particular. FHR has already reached out to IOC and has demanded an explanation.

Those five players are:

Anton Belov, Alexei Bereglazov, Mikhail Naumenkov, Valery Nichushkin and Sergei Plotnikov.

While it's unclear why Nichuskin and Plotnikov are not eligible and won't be allowed to go, it's clear as a day that Belov isn't allowed due to his past doping issues. Meanwhile, for Alexei Bereglazov - He has a valid NHL contract, therefore, I believe that it is the reason why he won't have his chance to make the cut.

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