On the edge of Russia’s Ural mountains, Ben Scrivens suited up for Salavat Yulaev Ufa in the Kontinental Hockey League, taking on Pavel Datsyuk and Ilya Kovalchuk’s SKA St. Petersburg. Scrivens has been in contact with Hockey Canada and he played preseason games on a roster assembled from KHL players. Of those three, Scrivens has the most NHL experience (144 NHL games for four teams between 2011 and 2016). “The elephant in the room is what’s going to happen with the Olympics,” Scrivens says. KHL players can hit the ground running in Pyeongchang with experience on international-size ice and the experience of facing players of Kovalchuk and Datsyuk’s calibre.

Source: National Post October 08, 2017 20:15 UTC