Russia's invasion of Ukraine will have an impact of junior hockey

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Russian national teams will not be permitted to take part in International Ice Hockey Federation events for at least the next several months.

Just days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the IIHF has announced a "suspension of all Russian and Belarusian National Teams and Clubs from participation in every age category and in all IIHF competitions or events until further notice."

From a men's junior hockey perspective, this move impacts both the world under-18 championship and the rescheduled world junior championship.

Saint John Sea Dogs defenseman Yan Kuznetsov was left off the Russian roster that took part in December's world juniors, which were ultimately postponed by COVID-19 after a few days of competition. It was probably unlikely he would have been named to this summer's roster, but the possibility was there.

Russia will also no longer host the 2023 World Junior Hockey Championship, which was scheduled to be played this winter in Novosibirsk and Omsk.

Some more on Monday's news:

• You have to think a Canadian city or seven would be interested in hosting the 2023 world juniors. The Ottawa Senators are apparently interested in bringing the tournament back to the nation's capital for the first time since 2009, tweets Bruce Garrioch.
• Sportsnet's Mark Spector reports that Russia will not take part in the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, which is scheduled to take place in Edmonton in early August. The tournament is not an IIHF event.
• The CHL hasn't been able host its annual six-game Canada-Russia Series since 2019 because of COVID-19. Monday's announcements certainly cast some doubts that it will be played this fall. It'll be interesting to see if the CHL creates another event to be held in its place. TSN, the CHL's national rights holder, would no doubt like to have some kind of world junior related event.
• I took a political science course in university so I'm qualified to write this: Russia has been hammered with sanctions from around the world and, even if they removed their troops from Ukraine tomorrow, it's hard to see them bouncing back quickly from all of this unless Vladimir Putin is removed as president. Getting Russian players onto CHL rosters next season could prove to be even more difficult than the days of COVID travel bans.
• The IIHF ban on Belarusian teams could have an impact on former Sea Dogs forward Evgeny Sapelnikov, who the team traded to Baie-Comeau at the deadline. Sapelnikov is the only Belarusian player in Sea Dogs history.
• Former Sea Dogs captain Alex Grant (pictured) had his season come to an end at the Olympic Games. Grant's KHL team, Helsinki based Jokerit, pulled out of the league's playoffs following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Grant had five goals and seven assists in 27 games during the regular season. This was his fourth season with the club.
• Here's hoping the worst days of this war are already behind us and this all gets resolved very soon.