I do not know why there is such surprise at Russia’s weakness in the Olympics. Russia has not nor has it ever had a monopoly on producing the highest caliber hockey players in the world. The Soviet Red Army team were the bullies of international and olympic play. Iron Curtain refs let them get away with too many penalties and a lot of dirty play. Did you watch Kovalchuk and Radulov and Markov in these Olympics. Always behind the play, always when the refs are lookinbg the other way, elbows come up, sticks get used on ankles the back of the knees etc. Kvalchuk is 30 and left the NHL because he can’;t be a bully in NOrth America. In the NHL, Russians aren’t always the biggest players. In international play, Russian players are bullies. The Soviet Red Army team were professionals–no question. Lets call diamonds diamonds and clubs clubs. Paper Tiger. Russia is not the worst of International Hockey, but it is far far from the best, not even among the best. Sweden, Czech Republic, Finland, Canada, the US are all of them superior to Russian hockey.