The remainder of the 25-player team is expected to be announced in January. The Russian Olympic Committee is scheduled to begin play in the tournament against Switzerland in China on Feb. 9.
Ovechkin, the captain of the Washington Capitals, will be in his fourth Olympics; he played in the 2006 Turin Olympics (fourth), the 2010 Vancouver Olympics (sixth) and the 2014 Sochi Olympics (fifth). The 36-year-old forward scored 42 points (24 goals, 18 assists) in 45 games last season. He is sixth in NHL history in goals (730) and had scored at least 30 goals in 15 straight seasons prior to last season.
Kucherov, a forward for the Tampa Bay Lightning, will be in his first Olympics. He led the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 32 points (eight goals, 24 assists) in 23 games after not playing during the regular season while recovering from hip surgery. A five-time 30-goal scorer, the 28-year-old has won the Stanley Cup each of the past two seasons.
Vasilevskiy, a goalie for the Lightning, will be in his first Olympics. He led the NHL in wins last season (31) for the fourth straight season and helped Tampa Bay win the Stanley Cup. The 27-year-old won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP last season, going 16-7 with a 1.90 goals-against average, .937 save percentage and five shutouts in 23 games.
'It's the best of the best," Vasilevskiy said. "It will be pretty interesting to try myself against the best players in the world."
"It's great for the guys, great for our team. … It will be a different experience for all of us. I'm pretty sure probably half of our team will go to the Olympics."
Leon Draisaitl, Philipp Grubauer and Moritz Seider were the first names submitted Friday to be part of the Germany men's hockey team. Rudolfs Balcers, Zemgus Girgensons and
Kristians Rubins
were the first for the Latvia team; Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Roman Josi were the first for the Switzerland team; and Erik Cernak, Jaroslav Halak and Andrej Sekera were the first for the Slovakia team.
Seth Jones, Patrick Kane and Auston Matthews were the first names submitted Thursday for the United States team. Sebastian Aho, Aleksander Barkov and Mikko Rantanen were the first for the Finland team; Ondrej Palat, David Pastrnak and Jakub Voracek were the first for the Czech Republic team.
Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and Alex Pietrangelo were the first Sunday to be part of the Canada team. Mika Zibanejad, Victor Hedman and Gabriel Landeskog were the first submitted Wednesday for the Sweden team.
"It's great for the guys (on the LIghtning), great for our team," Vasilevskiy said. "… It will be a different experience for all of us (Kucherov, Cernak, Palat, Hedman). I'm pretty sure probably half of our team will go to the Olympics."
NHL.com independent correspondent Corey Long contributed to this report
