Jan 23, 2018
Nichushkin barred from Olympics
Former Dallas Stars forward Valeri Nichushkin is among the Russian athletes barred from competing in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. The Russian Hockey Federation announced Tuesday Nichushkin was among five hockey players who were not given permission to take part in the Games.
TSN.ca Staff
Former Dallas Stars forward Valeri Nichushkin is among the Russian athletes barred from competing in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.
The Russian Hockey Federation announced Tuesday Nichushkin was among five hockey players who were not given permission to take part in the Games.
Sergei Plotnikov, Anton Belov, Alexei Bereglazov and Mikhail Naumenkov were also told by the IOC they could not compete for the "Olympic Athletes from Russia" team.
"Taking into account the heightened attention being paid to the question of our team participating at the tournament, the Russian Ice Hockey Federation feels it's necessary to state that the mentioned five players have not been banned from taking part in competitions," the federation said in a release. "However, according to the IOC's program for Russian athletes competing at the 2018 Olympic Games, they have not received an invitation to participate in the tournament.
"At the same time, the IOC stressed that these players are not guilty of breaching anti-doping rules. When inviting players to take part at the Olympic Games, the IOC considered a wide range of factors.
"The RIHF are requesting information from the IOC for the reasons why these players were not invited."
The Stars still own Nichushkin's NHL rights and general manager Jim Nill said prior to the season the team expects 22-year-old to return to the NHL for the 2018-19 season. He left the Stars as a restricted free agent in 2016 following a nine-goal and 29-point campaign.
The 2013 first-round pick of the Stars has 14 goals and 24 points in 47 games with the KHL's CSKA Moscow this season. He was a part of Russia's team at Sochi 2014, scoring one goal in five games as the team exited in the quarter-finals.
The Russsian Ice Hockey Federation will announce their roster on Thursday, with 25 of the following approved players:
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.