feels extremely weird to be having this conversation on hfboards of all places, but: no one is stopping russian athletes from playing their sport. the IIHF didn't shut down the KHL.
international competitions, on the other hand, are friendly events for the international community to come together within the context of sports. russia's aggression against ukraine shows that they are not a friendly nation within that community, so it does not make sense to extend them an invitation to participate in such an event.
this is the same country that also violated the sporting part of those agreements with their state-sanctioned doping program, which led to their athletes not being able to compete under their flag at the olympics. i get that these two things don't have to do with each other, but both russia as a nation and russia as a sporting body do not deserve the benefit of the doubt here.
i get that it's a bummer to have two fewer prospects at WJCs but this just kinda is what it is at this point.
no one is accusing the players of that. it is completely understandable, though, why the IIHF would not want to risk the optics of having russia win their most-watched hockey tournament while it is in the midst of a war against a nation who also fields a team in that tournament.
it's disingenuous to frame the IIHF's rules as specifically targeting individual players based on nationality. this is much different than, say, the CHL banning russian players from entry – THAT decision was blocking individual athletes based on nationality.
the IIHF's decision here is not even remotely the same thing: it is blocking a team from participating in a tournament they run. it is an international event; participating nations need to meet the criteria in order to participate (i.e. being a member of the international community in good standing); russia simply does not meet that criteria now.
