Photo by ctankcycles.

Well, not to Washington, they’ve all been here for some time now. But Vancouver, yes. Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Semyon Varlamov, all key pegs to D.C.’s lone sporting success story this year, will all head to the Great White North to play for the Russian national team in February’s Winter Olympics. Plenty more Capitals are sure to be named to national teams between now and the deadline on January 1. The tournament takes place from February 16 through 28.

It will be very interesting to see what kind of a reaction Ovie receives from Canadian fans during the tournament — he was shown a “borderline insane” amount of love during the Capitals’ recent foray into western Canada. But showing affection for a Ruskie, surely one of the home country’s biggest rivals for the gold medal? Just doesn’t seem like it will fly amongst those who worship at the alter of Sidney Crosby.

In other news, the Caps lead the NHL with three representatives to the Russian team. Rock the red, indeed.