To the surprise of no one, Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar were a part of the 23 players named to a two day training camp in Moscow in preparation for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

What does kind of surprise is that only 23 players were invited, most countries haven't trimmed the list that much yet.  Also, almost all the players going are NHL players, there are hardly any KHL stars (like former Penguin Aleksey Morozov) are going to be there.  KHL players like Sergei Fedorov and Viktor Kozlov are going, but they've been in the NHL for a while.  The KHL season starts earlier than the NHL season, so I'm not sure if scheduling has anything to do with it.  The article mentions that this is not necessarily the final team, so we'll have to keep an eye on what they're doing over there.

I think one of the most interesting things about the Olympics will be how Russia chooses to manage their lines...They've got so much firepower; would you have Geno center Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin of the Washington Capitals?  Or perhaps put him on a line with Ilya Kovalchuk or Alexei Kovalev?  And if Malkin doesn't play with Ovechkin, it's a good bet Pavel Datsyuk will.  It's frightening to think of the offensive abilities Russia will have.

(Stick tap to the Washington Post's Capital Insider blog for the link)