Chicago Blackhawks forward Artem Anisimov will not play for Russia at the 2017 World Championship, reports The Athletic’s Scott Powers.
Anisimov, 28, tied a career high with 22 goals and set a new career high in points (45) in 64 games this season. He missed most of March with an ankle injury, which he appeared not to be fully recovered from during the postseason has he had 0 points and was 29.41 on face offs.
While Anisimov will not play for Russia his Chicago teammate Artemi Panarin reportedly will play in the tournament which runs from May 5 to 21 in Cologne, Germany and Paris, France.
Canada will go for a three-peat this year after defeating Russia and Finland the last two years, respectively. The Canadians are in Group B with Finland, who took silver at last year’s Worlds, along with Belarus, Czech Republic, France, Norway, Slovenia and Switzerland.
Russia is in Group A along with Denmark, Germany, Italy, Lativa, Slovakia, Sweden and the United States. The Russians open the tournament against the Swedes.