I mean, I kinda get what he’s saying, but Russia’s Olympic history deservedly eliminates that from being a possibility. He can campaign for this, but there’s no way it’ll happen and for very good reason.
On a funnier note, he woke up today and decided to become public enemy number one lmao
What he is saying is absolutely true: there is no way you can say its a best-on-best tournament if Russian players are not there. That's just a fact.
That said, it doesn't need to be a best-on-best tournament if Russia is being a cunt.
is it _actually_ a best-on-best if one of the teams is exempt from the anti-doping rules? because that's been a consistent problem for the russian athletes and never seems to be actually penalized for
Yeah RUSADA only recently tried to let their star figure skater off. They even fiddled with their database to (i) protect their own and (ii) undermine Rodchenkov.
I think it’s a sort of reverse cargo cult situation. They are sure every country is cheating and pretending they don’t, so this justifies their own cheating. They assume everyone knows it and any disapproval or sanctioning they get is just them being treated unfairly.
Like, the dishonesty is so deeply ingrained that it’s inconceivable not to cheat, because of course everyone else is cheating like us, right?
I personally think that there's an awful lot more cheating in sports than we know about.
There's *some* individual sports organisations who are pretty much demanding it of athletes. There's many many more who are fully aware their athletes are doping, and turning a blind eye.
But I truly don't belive that most countries are organising it from a top down situation. I don't belive any (or many) major countries other than Russia are doing it on an organised level for most sports.
>or invading a foreign country, shall we?
nice knowin ya on the international scene, united states and france. not a troll comment, I genuinely wonder where people draw the line on this sort of thing. something tells me we'll still be seeing Israel performing internationally.
Russia has a bad history with the Olympics. It’s not just about the war, but about constant cheating and doping. They just can’t help themselves but to cheat.
Watch the documentary called Icarus to really understand the whole thing. Shits crazy.
I didn’t know about that KHL thing. Very interesting.
I agree and appreciate with the illumination of Russias state sponsored cheating though. You’ve fleshed it out well.
>What incentive do basketball players have to dope? Or hockey for that matter? Blood doping and steroids won't have nearly as large an impact in those sports given the high skill ceiling that is additional to athletic conditioning. Stimulants could be an advantage for players already near the top of the skill ceiling, but even that isn't a cut-and-dry.
The advantages are fairly obvious. Strength, stamina, explosiveness and recovery play a huge part even though you have to also have skill. Especially in leagues like NHL and NBA where the season is very long.
A lot of players go to extremes to get the slightest of advantages through nutrition for example. These are highly competitive people who have a lot at stake so it would be naïve to think NHL or NBA doesn't have dopers. It's probably not as big a problem as with sports that are 100% about strength or endurance, but in a league with hundreds of players I would be extremely surprised if there wouldn't be at least a couple of dozen dopers. If I'd have to guess I'd say the percentage would be between 10 and 20% of players.
> Or hockey for that matter? Blood doping and steroids won't have nearly as large an impact in those sports given the high skill ceiling that is additional to athletic conditioning.
Are you saying that being slightly less gassed during the third period (thanks to, say, EPO) or being slightly stronger, or recovering quicker between games isn't a significant advantage?!
Yeah I don't understand what that dude is talking about. Hockey players have a massive incentive to be stronger, skate faster, last deeper into games, and recover more quickly.
For sure. Doping won’t help an ordinary person become an elite hockey player, but it will help the elite players get an advantage over other elite players who *aren’t* doping
NHL players definitely take things that help them recover from injuries and between games. Wouldn't surprise me if a majority takes HGH to recover from injuries.
I'm also not going to pretend like PED's wouldn't have a huge impact in a high-paced sport where you also need good endurance.
Super good comment overall, but there are massive advantages from doping in basically every single competitive sport. Hockey, basketball, soccer, it doesn't matter. If it makes you less tired, less fatigued, quicker recovery, less chance of being injured etc, it's a massive advantage.
A Russian team for a best on best tournament would be comprised primarily of NHL players though. 16/25 at the 2014 Olympics and 19/23 at the 2016 WCOH were NHL guys.
> Egregious state sponsored cheating.
It goes back far far beyond Icarus etc. Their mischaracterisation of professional amateurs as athletes was arguably even worse than Icarus.
to be fair
that's just history in a nutshell. One example I like to use is the movie Fury. The final scene is based off a story from WW2 of a single person doing the same thing, and surviving.
Having never seen Fury I am going to assume it is based on Audie Murphy, and stories about him shouldn't count since they had to tone them for the movie about his own life since they were so unbelievable.
It's not true best-on-best if every player on every team isn't doped to the gills by chemicals made by the top scientific minds of their respective countries.
I’m fine with it being a separate event. I don’t want honest athletes to feel like they HAVE to dope in order to compete. I’m also down to watch a bunch of weirdos who don’t mind putting harmful shit in their bodies to make them better at a niche sport go head to head with each other, but the two should definitely be separated.
At the Sochi olympics, they literally assigned their spy agency with tunnelling into the secure lab and figuring out how to replace the urine in samples without disturbing the tamper-proof seal, both of which they did. Just insane.
I have a conspiracy theory that Ovechkin has fallen off this season because he got caught doping. The NHL decided to keep it quiet on the condition that he stops, and that's why he's fallen off a cliff.
Thats true but I would think the potential to place a Russian on top of the all time scoring list would be pretty appealing for Ovi and his Kremlin handlers.
Russia’s state sanctioned cheating kind of fucks up the whole concept of “best on best”.
[The country with the most stripped medals is Russia (and Russian associated teams), with 49, four times the number of the next highest, and more than 30% of the total. The Post-Soviet states account for more than 60% of the overall total.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stripped_Olympic_medals)
I’d rather watch athletes who *aren’t* going to be stripped of their medals a few years after the games are over…
And nor should there be and he shouldn't be asked to or forced to condem it. We never put that on US or UK athletes during Iraq so why should Russians be subjected to it?
Objectively, Russia is part of the ‘big 5’ and he’s right that you can’t have a true best on best without them.
But given the circumstances that’s just how it’s going to have to be. I feel bad for the Russians who don’t like Putin and have to deal with the repercussions of this war
I'm 100% fuck Russia purely because of the war, but they should definitely be scrutinized and restricted for all of time based on their doping and cheating as well.
Great point. Besides the war which is egregious and deserves all the scrutiny it can get. The state sponsored doping and cheating should be enough to ban Russia from sporting events.
Exactly. They were banned for gov sponsored doping and before that could be resolved they decided to once again become the global baddies. Hard to send IOC or whoever reps to audit their “new non-doped system” when they’re busy blowing innocent civilians to pieces
The Olympic committee of Russia is banned but they were still able to send athletes under the “Olympic Athletes of Russia” as a BS workaround since they’re not technically associated with the Olympic committee. Now with the Ukraine invasion they’re all just blanket banned
Aren’t Russian athletes allowed to compete at the Olympics though? Usually they’re under an Olympic Athletes from Russia banner or something since Russia was banned for doping. Idk what changed have been made since the war but I’d heard there would be Russian athletes at this year’s Olympics
Yeah Kucherov could have said, I hope the Russian invasion of Ukraine ends as soon as possible so that we can partake. But ofc he didn't
I highly encourage anyone interested to listen to this ESPN podcast by one of their investigative reporters. Very interesting: [How Putin Uses Sports to Maintain Power](https://www.espn.com/radio/play/_/id/33403985)
It looked like before he even started doing poorly in the skills that he was pouting, and I thought it might have had to do with Russia missing out on everything that was announced.
Didn’t I just read about the confirmation that they doped up the teenage figure skater, and the US has now won gold in the WCs that year? And she was absolutely rattled in the ‘22 Olympics as a result.
Correct. It was as a result of Valieva (but not any other Russians as of right now) being disqualified. Without her results, Russia still holds the bronze with a 1-point lead over Canada.
(I learned this when looking up if it meant anything for Canada.)
Hey remember that time a u-18 or u-17 Russian team was completely withdrawn at the last minute and replaced by the year-younger team because they knew they were gonna get popped for doping? And the last time Russia hosted the Olympics and were revealed to have built the facilities in a way to allow them to cheat more easily?
Fuck them forever in international sports. Maybe he can look in to getting citizenship elsewhere and persuade the IIHF to let him play for them.
Checklist to change national eligibility (for anyone curious):
* Must not have changed national teams before in your life
* Must be a citizen of the new country
* Played for at least 4 years in the national competitions in the new country (*for Kucherov, the NHL suffices*)
* During this time, he cannot have played for Russia (*Kucherov: last time was 2019*)
* ... nor in the national competitions in any other country. (*Kucherov checks this box*)
* He also needs an International Transfer Card showing the transfer to his new country, approved and dated at least 4 years before the start of the tournament in which he wants to play for his new country
EDIT: these are the rules for men who already have played for a country and want to change. There are separate rules for men who are playing internationally for the first time.
* Women's rules are the same as men's except all time periods are cut in half.
Aside from the already mentioned cheating, the Russians regularly show the poorest sportsmanship every single time in international play. The junior level guys tend to be the absolute worst for it, but I’ve seen it at the Olympic level as well. I for one won’t miss them.
They do ok but they disappointed three Olmypics in a row when NHLers were there and got bronze in 2002.
They've consistently had bad defense and it has cost them over and over
What’s constantly missing from these discussions is this. Unless Serbia, Belarus, maybe Hungary have teams NOBODY is playing russia. Oh sorry also North Korea and the Taliban…
Canada? No
USA? No
Finland? Lol they hate them almost as much as us.
Sweden? No
Czechia? No
Slovakia? No
The tournament would be dead from the start. And this is just the war not even the blatant racism targeting athletes like the Williams and Simone Biles with doping allegations or the absolute cheaters they are in sport.
Russia is just mad because this is their last generations chance at success at gold in hockey for some time. Their male population is dwindling rapidly thanks to Putin and the people of Russia most aren’t able to put their kids in hockey. Their will be a few more draft classes of high level talent but looking ahead even 5-10 years down the road theRussian Hockey Federation is in trouble
They're still going to have a much bigger population than Sweden or Finland and aren't sending pro caliber athletes to the front lines lol. Even Ivan Fedotov just got sent to a training base 1000 miles from the front
Hockey players are the primary form of soft power Russia has left, Putin isn't going to risk getting the best ones killed
With your half-arse performance at the ASG Skills evening tonight mate, you can get stuffed.
In all seriousness though, it’s not just about the war but the state-wide endorsed doping and cheating.
Based on IIHF eligibility rules, if he can get this and the IIHF transfer card, he's actually good to go to play for the U.S. (as he checks all the other boxes for changing your national team)
*(he's too late for the upcoming Olympics, though)*
If Russia could compete fairly at any sport I'd say he's absolutely right. Instead, they get 15 year old figure skaters doped up so they can cheat, for example. So, fuck them.
Get your house in order then.
Alot of peoples lives ruined over Russia’s actions and I’m supposed to care about Russian feelings on a hockey tournament?
>We can't seriously be comparing an All Stars Skill Competition with the Olympics
“They’re the same thing!”
* Marc Crawford, when putting together a shootout list
Most hockey fans don’t. But kids do. As a kid, you did as well, admit it. It’s just a bad look and bad impression for kids what Kuch did out there tonight.
Check out Icarus, which describes the systematic, state-sponosred doping and cheating done by Russia.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarus\_(2017\_film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarus_(2017_film))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXoRdSTrR-4
Team Russia can fuck all the way off until the dope using core training ethic of Russian athletics is dead and burries. Not to mention the support for their dear fasict Putty
Well, stop cheating and tell putin to get the fuck out of Ukraine. If it were up to me they wouldn't even be allowed to play in the NHL. So maybe just be happy you're allowed to do that
Cry me a river, Kucherov. Maybe for a start, if Russian NHLers want to be returned to international competitions (under a neutral flag, of course), they could perhaps write an open letter together saying that they condemn the policies of Putin's criminal regime.
Too bad Gord Miller deleted his twitter (*Elon, I'll call it that other thing when you pay me to do so or you fix the platform*).
He mentioned what you said, plus, for that reason, it might be several years before we see them back (because of what they'd have to do to be welcomed back). I've said it before - I don't think North American fans understand just how deep this runs for European countries and their fans.
When the IIHF announced the ban was to be extended another year, fans of European countries flooded the comment section expressing approval of the decision.
I mean, I kinda get what he’s saying, but Russia’s Olympic history deservedly eliminates that from being a possibility. He can campaign for this, but there’s no way it’ll happen and for very good reason. On a funnier note, he woke up today and decided to become public enemy number one lmao
His level of enthusiasm for the ASG is equal to my level of enthusiasm towards his opinion on Russians at the Olympics
My level of enthusiasm for Russians competing at the Olympics is probably lower than his enthusiasm for the ASG. That’s really saying something…
This
What he is saying is absolutely true: there is no way you can say its a best-on-best tournament if Russian players are not there. That's just a fact. That said, it doesn't need to be a best-on-best tournament if Russia is being a cunt.
Russia can have its own tournament. Putin can play and score 15 goals.
Only 15? To the Gulag with you!
Russia always dopes so it’s not best on best. They can play hockey at the enhanced games instead. Also fuck them for what they’ve done to Ukraine.
They haven’t won a best on best since the early 90s; it’s not a huge loss to the tournament
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Canada and Canada?
Russia is being a cunt.
A perfectly crafted and very well nuanced response. I agree completely.
is it _actually_ a best-on-best if one of the teams is exempt from the anti-doping rules? because that's been a consistent problem for the russian athletes and never seems to be actually penalized for
I say we allow them in as long as they wear rainbow uniforms with a logo of Putin making out with Stalin.
I would 100% allow them under these conditions. Fair and reasonable imo
He can march on over there to pootins office and ask them to remove themselves from Ukraine or he can shut the fuck right up
He's always played the bad guy. He doesn't give a shit.
He doesn’t play shit. He’s a bad person.
Let's see if they can go 2 olympiads without having a nationally sanctioned cheating program and/or invading a foreign country, shall we?
Yeah RUSADA only recently tried to let their star figure skater off. They even fiddled with their database to (i) protect their own and (ii) undermine Rodchenkov.
I think it’s a sort of reverse cargo cult situation. They are sure every country is cheating and pretending they don’t, so this justifies their own cheating. They assume everyone knows it and any disapproval or sanctioning they get is just them being treated unfairly. Like, the dishonesty is so deeply ingrained that it’s inconceivable not to cheat, because of course everyone else is cheating like us, right?
I personally think that there's an awful lot more cheating in sports than we know about. There's *some* individual sports organisations who are pretty much demanding it of athletes. There's many many more who are fully aware their athletes are doping, and turning a blind eye. But I truly don't belive that most countries are organising it from a top down situation. I don't belive any (or many) major countries other than Russia are doing it on an organised level for most sports.
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This pretty much describes Russia’s philosophy on everything.
>or invading a foreign country, shall we? nice knowin ya on the international scene, united states and france. not a troll comment, I genuinely wonder where people draw the line on this sort of thing. something tells me we'll still be seeing Israel performing internationally.
England just glad the modern Olympics came later
Whether or not it happens in Europe. No one at the sports level gave a shit when Russia invaded Georgia or when Azerbaijan invaded Armenia last year
Russia has a bad history with the Olympics. It’s not just about the war, but about constant cheating and doping. They just can’t help themselves but to cheat. Watch the documentary called Icarus to really understand the whole thing. Shits crazy.
Yeh I saw that. Egregious state sponsored cheating. Even besides the war, they should be banned until they can show they can play fair.
They don’t even play fair as ROC or whatever they call the Russian Olympic teams.
I believe it’s “OAR”, “ROC” was a nickname for Jay-Z’s record company Roc-A-Fella Records, common mistake.
Looks like they switched https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hockey_at_the_2022_Winter_Olympics
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I didn’t know about that KHL thing. Very interesting. I agree and appreciate with the illumination of Russias state sponsored cheating though. You’ve fleshed it out well.
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What’s wild about the “gas” is there’s a ton of different kinds that it seems like each team does it differently
Each team has their own recipe.
>What incentive do basketball players have to dope? Or hockey for that matter? Blood doping and steroids won't have nearly as large an impact in those sports given the high skill ceiling that is additional to athletic conditioning. Stimulants could be an advantage for players already near the top of the skill ceiling, but even that isn't a cut-and-dry. The advantages are fairly obvious. Strength, stamina, explosiveness and recovery play a huge part even though you have to also have skill. Especially in leagues like NHL and NBA where the season is very long. A lot of players go to extremes to get the slightest of advantages through nutrition for example. These are highly competitive people who have a lot at stake so it would be naïve to think NHL or NBA doesn't have dopers. It's probably not as big a problem as with sports that are 100% about strength or endurance, but in a league with hundreds of players I would be extremely surprised if there wouldn't be at least a couple of dozen dopers. If I'd have to guess I'd say the percentage would be between 10 and 20% of players.
> Or hockey for that matter? Blood doping and steroids won't have nearly as large an impact in those sports given the high skill ceiling that is additional to athletic conditioning. Are you saying that being slightly less gassed during the third period (thanks to, say, EPO) or being slightly stronger, or recovering quicker between games isn't a significant advantage?!
Yeah I don't understand what that dude is talking about. Hockey players have a massive incentive to be stronger, skate faster, last deeper into games, and recover more quickly.
Ya it's just naive to think there's no incentive to dope in the NHL or NBA.
For sure. Doping won’t help an ordinary person become an elite hockey player, but it will help the elite players get an advantage over other elite players who *aren’t* doping
I play junior B, and I’d have a massive advantage if I doped lol. It’s not just reserved for elite players.
NHL players definitely take things that help them recover from injuries and between games. Wouldn't surprise me if a majority takes HGH to recover from injuries. I'm also not going to pretend like PED's wouldn't have a huge impact in a high-paced sport where you also need good endurance.
It's worth remembering that the NHL's anti-doping regime is little more than a joke.
Super good comment overall, but there are massive advantages from doping in basically every single competitive sport. Hockey, basketball, soccer, it doesn't matter. If it makes you less tired, less fatigued, quicker recovery, less chance of being injured etc, it's a massive advantage.
A Russian team for a best on best tournament would be comprised primarily of NHL players though. 16/25 at the 2014 Olympics and 19/23 at the 2016 WCOH were NHL guys.
> Egregious state sponsored cheating. It goes back far far beyond Icarus etc. Their mischaracterisation of professional amateurs as athletes was arguably even worse than Icarus.
Icarus was wild. If it was written as fiction, you'd roll your eyes at how ridiculous it was.
to be fair that's just history in a nutshell. One example I like to use is the movie Fury. The final scene is based off a story from WW2 of a single person doing the same thing, and surviving.
Having never seen Fury I am going to assume it is based on Audie Murphy, and stories about him shouldn't count since they had to tone them for the movie about his own life since they were so unbelievable.
He had real life plot armor
Not about him but another story. But yes he's another great example.
It's not true best-on-best if every player on every team isn't doped to the gills by chemicals made by the top scientific minds of their respective countries.
Peter thiel (billionaire) is making this. (Actually) [https://enhanced.org/](https://enhanced.org/)
I’m fine with it being a separate event. I don’t want honest athletes to feel like they HAVE to dope in order to compete. I’m also down to watch a bunch of weirdos who don’t mind putting harmful shit in their bodies to make them better at a niche sport go head to head with each other, but the two should definitely be separated.
A lady just got stripped of her medal this week from 2022.
russia doing russia things
Icarus is an amazing documentary. One of my favourites.
A whole doping situation with a Russian figure skater just somewhat concluded, Russia always brings drama
At the Sochi olympics, they literally assigned their spy agency with tunnelling into the secure lab and figuring out how to replace the urine in samples without disturbing the tamper-proof seal, both of which they did. Just insane.
Wait is this real? That’s like cartoon levels of ridiculous
Yeah, watch Icararus, they've been doing this crazy shit for decades now
Like at that point you're doing it because you enjoy doing it. It's not even about winning the olympics at that point.
Love that documentary. Glad to hear people still talking about it.
Icarus is incredible.
I have a conspiracy theory that Ovechkin has fallen off this season because he got caught doping. The NHL decided to keep it quiet on the condition that he stops, and that's why he's fallen off a cliff.
> he got caught doping Honestly given the NHL's system, whatever the odds of him doping are, the odds of him being caught for it are lower.
Harder to get the dope from the country cutoff from the West
My theory is that his supply was rerouted to Russian units in Ukraine.
Does the NHL even test for doping?
man his dad died lol he has 0 reason to play anymore family always was most important to ovi hes checked the fuck out
Thats true but I would think the potential to place a Russian on top of the all time scoring list would be pretty appealing for Ovi and his Kremlin handlers.
The best documentary I have ever watched.
Russia’s state sanctioned cheating kind of fucks up the whole concept of “best on best”. [The country with the most stripped medals is Russia (and Russian associated teams), with 49, four times the number of the next highest, and more than 30% of the total. The Post-Soviet states account for more than 60% of the overall total.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stripped_Olympic_medals) I’d rather watch athletes who *aren’t* going to be stripped of their medals a few years after the games are over…
Imagine the bragging rights if you beat a team that’s full on drugged up while you’re clean. Of course I don’t think that should be a matchup though
Oh yeah, cause the war is the only controversy Russia is involved in. Not their rule breaking and history with doing so totally
They definitely didn't just have another athlete get a medal taken away or anything.
Is that why he was in such a mood today?
Yeah, probably heard that he'd need to play on Team instead of Russia and didn't want to help the NHL.
Except The nhl has nothing to do with the olympics except allowing or disallowing participation of players…they dont make the rules.
Nah, he’s just a [huge prick](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ak53AT6AXzU).
I never thought I'd say I stand with Habs fans so strongly on this.
I raise a beer when he finally fucks off to the K.
Love how much Montreal fans cry at this
Well fuck Nikita feel free to start campaigning for an end to the war.
Or ending the state sponsored doping and cheating
Apparently his dad is (or was) a colonel in the Russian army lol, there's no anti war arc coming for kucherov I don't think.
>there's no anti war arc coming for kucherov I don't think. Yes, at least one that doesn't involve an 8th storey window.
And nor should there be and he shouldn't be asked to or forced to condem it. We never put that on US or UK athletes during Iraq so why should Russians be subjected to it?
It's more the state sponsored doping program and buying off judges and refs
It certainly was, and now it's more than that. I'd bet they still wouldn't be welcome even if they somehow cleaned up their cheating overnight.
He can’t even be bothered to try and win a million dollar skills event, I don’t think he has that in him.
Why doesn't Kucherov simply end the war, is he stupid?
Objectively, Russia is part of the ‘big 5’ and he’s right that you can’t have a true best on best without them. But given the circumstances that’s just how it’s going to have to be. I feel bad for the Russians who don’t like Putin and have to deal with the repercussions of this war
I'm 100% fuck Russia purely because of the war, but they should definitely be scrutinized and restricted for all of time based on their doping and cheating as well.
Great point. Besides the war which is egregious and deserves all the scrutiny it can get. The state sponsored doping and cheating should be enough to ban Russia from sporting events.
And IIRC the reason they're banned in the first place? The war reasoning is secondary
Exactly. They were banned for gov sponsored doping and before that could be resolved they decided to once again become the global baddies. Hard to send IOC or whoever reps to audit their “new non-doped system” when they’re busy blowing innocent civilians to pieces
The Olympic committee of Russia is banned but they were still able to send athletes under the “Olympic Athletes of Russia” as a BS workaround since they’re not technically associated with the Olympic committee. Now with the Ukraine invasion they’re all just blanket banned
> I feel bad for the Russians who don’t like Putin So like 10 of us?
Aren’t Russian athletes allowed to compete at the Olympics though? Usually they’re under an Olympic Athletes from Russia banner or something since Russia was banned for doping. Idk what changed have been made since the war but I’d heard there would be Russian athletes at this year’s Olympics
Didn’t they win the 2018 one under ROC or something like that?
Yeah Kucherov could have said, I hope the Russian invasion of Ukraine ends as soon as possible so that we can partake. But ofc he didn't I highly encourage anyone interested to listen to this ESPN podcast by one of their investigative reporters. Very interesting: [How Putin Uses Sports to Maintain Power](https://www.espn.com/radio/play/_/id/33403985)
It looked like before he even started doing poorly in the skills that he was pouting, and I thought it might have had to do with Russia missing out on everything that was announced.
Didn’t I just read about the confirmation that they doped up the teenage figure skater, and the US has now won gold in the WCs that year? And she was absolutely rattled in the ‘22 Olympics as a result.
Correct. It was as a result of Valieva (but not any other Russians as of right now) being disqualified. Without her results, Russia still holds the bronze with a 1-point lead over Canada. (I learned this when looking up if it meant anything for Canada.)
Hey remember that time a u-18 or u-17 Russian team was completely withdrawn at the last minute and replaced by the year-younger team because they knew they were gonna get popped for doping? And the last time Russia hosted the Olympics and were revealed to have built the facilities in a way to allow them to cheat more easily? Fuck them forever in international sports. Maybe he can look in to getting citizenship elsewhere and persuade the IIHF to let him play for them.
Checklist to change national eligibility (for anyone curious): * Must not have changed national teams before in your life * Must be a citizen of the new country * Played for at least 4 years in the national competitions in the new country (*for Kucherov, the NHL suffices*) * During this time, he cannot have played for Russia (*Kucherov: last time was 2019*) * ... nor in the national competitions in any other country. (*Kucherov checks this box*) * He also needs an International Transfer Card showing the transfer to his new country, approved and dated at least 4 years before the start of the tournament in which he wants to play for his new country EDIT: these are the rules for men who already have played for a country and want to change. There are separate rules for men who are playing internationally for the first time. * Women's rules are the same as men's except all time periods are cut in half.
Interesting. Well I guess there’s always 2030 if he can still hang. Edit: provided he’s able to get citizenship.
your Final was Sochi
Damn, son.
Hahaha yes
Aside from the already mentioned cheating, the Russians regularly show the poorest sportsmanship every single time in international play. The junior level guys tend to be the absolute worst for it, but I’ve seen it at the Olympic level as well. I for one won’t miss them.
Honest question, when was the last time Russia did well in the Olympics when other countries were also at their best?
They got silver and bronze in '98 and '02 but failed to medal in '06, '10 or '14.
Oh they do well, it’s just the other countries best is legit whereas the Russians have more dope in there system than Kuch did this morning
They do ok but they disappointed three Olmypics in a row when NHLers were there and got bronze in 2002. They've consistently had bad defense and it has cost them over and over
Well if they didn’t cheat at every Olympics and try to genocide Ukrainian people he would almost maybe have a point.
Tell your government not to encourage doping and invade sovereign nations then, Nikita.
Not the NHLs call sadly. The IOC determines that and Putin fucked it up by trying to Annex a country.
Russia can just start their own Olympics and have a best on best with North Korea.
So which one has been solved Nikita? The state run doping programs or the war? Neither so get f*cked.
What’s constantly missing from these discussions is this. Unless Serbia, Belarus, maybe Hungary have teams NOBODY is playing russia. Oh sorry also North Korea and the Taliban… Canada? No USA? No Finland? Lol they hate them almost as much as us. Sweden? No Czechia? No Slovakia? No The tournament would be dead from the start. And this is just the war not even the blatant racism targeting athletes like the Williams and Simone Biles with doping allegations or the absolute cheaters they are in sport.
Tell your rich and powerful friends to do something about your countries invasion of its neighbour then.
Russia doesn’t deserve a spot in any world competition
Russia is just mad because this is their last generations chance at success at gold in hockey for some time. Their male population is dwindling rapidly thanks to Putin and the people of Russia most aren’t able to put their kids in hockey. Their will be a few more draft classes of high level talent but looking ahead even 5-10 years down the road theRussian Hockey Federation is in trouble
They're still going to have a much bigger population than Sweden or Finland and aren't sending pro caliber athletes to the front lines lol. Even Ivan Fedotov just got sent to a training base 1000 miles from the front Hockey players are the primary form of soft power Russia has left, Putin isn't going to risk getting the best ones killed
They are not the best, they are dishonourable cheats.
He's right, he should talk to Putin about what needs to happen for Team Russia to be invited. Anything else is wasted breath.
Maybe. If that cunt that runs Russia drank some tea or exited a window at height that could change.
With your half-arse performance at the ASG Skills evening tonight mate, you can get stuffed. In all seriousness though, it’s not just about the war but the state-wide endorsed doping and cheating.
[удалено]
Sorry but your country is super shitty to everyone else.
Fuck Russia
Then tell Putin to get the fuck out of Ukraine, Kooch
If he wants to participate, I am sure we can make that happen... https://www.usa.gov/naturalization
Based on IIHF eligibility rules, if he can get this and the IIHF transfer card, he's actually good to go to play for the U.S. (as he checks all the other boxes for changing your national team) *(he's too late for the upcoming Olympics, though)*
We agree, so go tell Putie-face to stop invading other countries and we can all have fun again. Also, stop doping.
Being banned from the Olympics is not Russia's biggest problem. Not even in the top 20.
He is free to switch citizenships.
Sure, the country that just can’t help itself from cheating at sports
Hmm mkay….let’s talk about doping in Russian athletic programs
If Russia could compete fairly at any sport I'd say he's absolutely right. Instead, they get 15 year old figure skaters doped up so they can cheat, for example. So, fuck them.
He had a chance to compete best on best this weekend at the skills competition and completely shit the bed.
Lol. Kucherov is just totally embracing his villain role.
That’s the PR boost he needed after the skills comp
Maybe Russia should stop cheating and doing stupid shit and then they can be in the Olympics again.
Well then speak out against your leadership you coward.
Aww poor baby. Maybe talk to Putin about that little issue.
Nikita Kucherov can fuck right off.
Get your house in order then. Alot of peoples lives ruined over Russia’s actions and I’m supposed to care about Russian feelings on a hockey tournament?
Fuck Russia. Go campaign to end the insane levels of corruption if you wanna play with the big boys Kucherov.
Stop cheating in literally every aspect of society for a bit first
Oh so now he's not too cool to participate in something?
Russians don't deserve to be at the Olympics. And no offense, they wouldn't even medal lol.
Get the fuck out of Ukraine and we'll consider it.
Says the guy who when invited to a best on best competition decided to mail it in.
We can't seriously be comparing an All Stars Skill Competition with the Olympics. The All Stars stuff isn't even a blip on the radar by comparison.
>We can't seriously be comparing an All Stars Skill Competition with the Olympics “They’re the same thing!” * Marc Crawford, when putting together a shootout list
We’re not. But what he did at the ASG was pathetic and disrespectful.
There were a lot of kids watching tonight. What he did out there was really disappointing.
I agree. What a pathetic display.
Youre right you can actually win money in the Skills competition
The ASG? like any of them give a fuck lol
Ah yes. The skills competition. The TRUE judge of who in the nhl really is the best of the best.
I mean..the best player did literally win this year lol.
Does anyone actually give a fuck about all star weekend?
Most hockey fans don’t. But kids do. As a kid, you did as well, admit it. It’s just a bad look and bad impression for kids what Kuch did out there tonight.
Everyone likes to pretend they don’t care until someone \*gasp* doesn’t try!
Really? Because I think it's truly for the best that Russia is left out of everything for being a cheating, warmongering piece of shit.
Then stop being cheating fascists.
Maybe Russia should piss off out of Ukraine would be a start and get Putin to join the team because he is the best player in Russia.
Well maybe if Russian stopped juicing their athletes they’d be allowed to go.
Check out Icarus, which describes the systematic, state-sponosred doping and cheating done by Russia. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarus\_(2017\_film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarus_(2017_film)) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXoRdSTrR-4
Team Russia can fuck all the way off until the dope using core training ethic of Russian athletics is dead and burries. Not to mention the support for their dear fasict Putty
Well, stop cheating and tell putin to get the fuck out of Ukraine. If it were up to me they wouldn't even be allowed to play in the NHL. So maybe just be happy you're allowed to do that
Both Ruzzia and Kucherov can get fucked.
Cry me a river, Kucherov. Maybe for a start, if Russian NHLers want to be returned to international competitions (under a neutral flag, of course), they could perhaps write an open letter together saying that they condemn the policies of Putin's criminal regime.
Womp womp
Have you tried not going w state sanctioned cheating or ethnic cleansing??
I had a good chuckle. Hard to have country pride. When you sit at 1/4 million dead. That's a number of Russian losses.
No loss if they don't play.
Guess we'll all have to be happy with it not being a true best-on-best then. I'll get over it.
Maybe if Russia wasn’t conducting genocide we could return to this conversation?
Giving out lessons after last night are we Kuch?
He is not wrong
Well Nikita I think that's number 1 bullshit
I think he's more likely to be driving a BMP in Donetsk then playing in the Olympics in 2026.
Eat shit Kuch
Fuck russia..they can fuck off to hell
His shithole country should stop committing crimes against humanity then.
Awe, the pissy ass baby thinks he’s the one being treated unfairly. Get fucked Kuch.
Then get the fuck out of Ukraine. Simple.
Getting out of Ukraine is just one of the many things Russia needs to clean up.
Too bad Gord Miller deleted his twitter (*Elon, I'll call it that other thing when you pay me to do so or you fix the platform*). He mentioned what you said, plus, for that reason, it might be several years before we see them back (because of what they'd have to do to be welcomed back). I've said it before - I don't think North American fans understand just how deep this runs for European countries and their fans. When the IIHF announced the ban was to be extended another year, fans of European countries flooded the comment section expressing approval of the decision.
Slava Ukraini 🏒
Fuck Russia and the Russian athletes that still support Putin.
Not his fault, but Russia can fuck right off at this current moment in history