Will Slava Play for Russia This Summer?

According to the AJC, two coaches for Team Russia attended last night's goal-fest to observe Kovalchuk and Kozlov. It's obvious that Kovy will play in the World Championship, but Slava hasn't played in that tournament for a long time: most of the time, apparently, he turns them down to go to Miami. Who can blame him?

But since he's having one of the best seasons of his long career, and especially after putting on such a fine show for the coaches last night, the old gunfighter is considering strapping on his Colt one more time:

“If they ask me, I’m going to think about it,” Kozlov said. “In the past years, sometimes I said no, sometimes they didn’t invite me, I got some injuries sometimes. We’ll see. If they’re going to ask me, definitely I’m going to think twice.”

We of the Chronicle would love for you to do it, Slava. With you and Kovy, and Frolov, and with the strong possibility that Malkin, Gonchar, and Markov will become available very early (they will), Russia has a legitimate chance of winning the Gold again.