Three former Flames members are hopefuls for Russia's Olympic team

Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

A few former members of the Calgary Flames could be sporting red again at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Three past members of the Flames organization were among 37 names that will attend Russia’s preliminary roster for a pre-Olympics training camp.

Russia will be allowed to bring a maximum of 25 players to the Olympic tournament.

Team ROC (aka Team Russia) called up 37 players from 11 KHL teams to pre-Olympics training camp. pic.twitter.com/BQAJvKrEsn

— KHL (@khl_eng) January 17, 2022

Nikita Nesterov leads the charge.

Nesterov played 38 of his 170 NHL games with the Flames last season, recording four assists and 20 penalty minutes in his lone season in Calgary. He went on to net four points (two goals, two assists) in five games for Russia at the 2021 IIHF Men’s World Championship before returning to CSKA Moskva.

He has 33 points (five goals, 28 assists) in 41 games in the KHL — tied for second-most among rearguards in the league.

Nesterov could be joined on the blue line by fellow former Flames defenceman Alexander Yelesin. Yelesin logged four skates with the Flames in two seasons, but the 25-year-old did have 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in 66 games with the Stockton Heat — Calgary’s minor-league affiliate — before returning to Russia.

He has four points (one goal, three assists) in 40 games with Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in 2021-22.

Calgary’s third connection didn’t quite make it to the Flames.

But he did spend two seasons in Calgary.

Pavel Karnaukhov, who was born in Minsk, Belarus, was selected in the fifth round (No. 136) in the 2015 NHL Draft by the Flames. He played two seasons in the Western Hockey League with the Calgary Hitmen, amassing 73 points (32 goals, 41 assists) in 118 games.

He has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in 37 games with CSKA Moskva in the KHL this season.

The 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games will take place from February 3-20, 2022 in Beijing, China. Russia will play in Group B with Czechia, Switzerland, and Denmark.

Russia is trending towards having the most former members of the Flames on its roster for the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

Czechia named two former Flames to its roster last week. The United States also has two former Flames participating, and Canada is rumoured to have a pair of former Flames draft picks also taking part.

Switzerland will be represented by Raphael Diaz and Reto Berra, and Slovakia named Milos Roman and Marek Hrivik to its roster Tuesday.

The NHL and NHLPA came to an agreement to withdraw from the Olympics last month. The decision was made as a result of rising cases of COVID-19 and the highly infectious Omicron variant.

NHL players attended every Winter Olympics from 1998 to 2014. Participation in the 2022 and 2026 Olympics was negotiated into the NHL’s most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement.

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