A player in the Columbus Blue Jackets pipeline is going to be participating in the 2018 Winter Olympics but it comes with a catch.
Defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov was selected to the Olympic Athletes from Russia team. Russia can't officially participate due to a ban regarding past doping. Selected athletes will instead compete under this banner.
Playing for SKA St. Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Gavrikov has played in 49 games this season and posted five goals and nine assists for a total of 14 points.
25 players from 3 KHL teams will play for Olympic Athletes from Russia team at the 2018 Olympic Games in PyeongChang. pic.twitter.com/yf3CoMVknp
— KHL (@khl_eng) January 25, 2018
Fellow defensemen include former NHLer's Slava Voynov and Alexei Marchenko.
The Olympic Athletes from Russia are the presumed favorites for the gold medal and Gavrikov looks to be a large part of it.
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