Best option for what? It's a frigging tryout tournament. Finns are going to skate / already skated 48 players, for Russia the number is... 35? Is there a big talent pool issue or what? Why haven't Malykhin and Lazarev played a single EHT leg so far? How on Earth were Glukhov and Kablukov even considered for the expanded KPK roster?
Mozyakin and Zaripov are having their best season in the last years, Zaripov in particular had no chance to play in the international tournaments since 2011. There's no way either of them deserves a shot less than Popov and Perezhogin who seem to be proven players for Bilyaletdinov anyway.
This is no simple tryout tournament for us. This time only the guys who really have a chance
at their respective postions and lines will be there.
One by one.
Malykhin is a good candidate for the future. Right now not a chance he'd make the olympic roster.
Lazarev is even a much farther option. Make no mistake, Malykhin is the talented one.
Why they were never invited? Maybe because they only started to gear up lately?
Kablukov and Glukhov were considered for the 4th line. What's your trouble with understanding there won't be 4 scoring lines on the team, thus no pure offensive players will be invited, but some big shut down bodies instead?
Mozyakin isn't any better than Popov at least. Just because Mozyakin is on a winning team and Popov on a struggling one doesn't change that. Popov is a bright spot in Omsk, while Mozyakin thrives among other star players. The most important part: Popov works for the NT as proven on many occasions. Mozyakin doesn't. For the particular case of the NT Popov is obviously a better option of the two.
This may look different for Perezhogin. but he's kept there for chemistry with Popov. God knows if they get the invite still, while obviously Popov is the better player. Still they all are candidates for the 3rd line. There are a lot of options there and even if Bill would consider Zaripov which he doesn't obviously for some off-ice issues, doesn't mean Zaripov would win out against the likes of Tarasenko for example.