TORONTO — You want to bury the Russians before Alex Ovechkin has even played one World Cup shift at an arena he’s had some of his best hockey in his NHL career, have at it.
Go ahead and read the Russians their last rites because of their most recent Olympic failures, most notably the flameout on their home soil in 2014.
And stick with the narrative that they have no chance in this World Cup of Hockey because of a questionable defence, if that works for you.
But before you do all that, take a closer look at a roster deep in high-end scoring talent and marry it with a hockey superpower anxious to make up for recent struggles.