MONTREAL

Andrei Markov named to Russia's World Cup roster

CTV Montreal Published Wednesday, March 2, 2016 8:43AM EST

These buddies may be rivals come September -- Markov will play for Team Russia at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and Subban is widely expected to be named to the Canadian squad. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

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Andrei Markov is one of three defencemen who will play for Team Russia at the World Cup of Hockey later this year.

Markov was named to Russia's preliminary 16-man roster Wednesday. He represented his native country at the last World Cup of Hockey, held in 2004, as well as at the 2010 and 2014 Olympics and was part of the gold medal-winning squad at the 2008 World Championships.

Markov is joined by the Panthers’ Dmitry Kulikov and Washington’s Dmitry Orlov on the blue line. Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Pavel Datsyuk and Nikita Kucherov also made the team.

Team Canada is expected to unveil its roster around 4 p.m. Wednesday. The tournament begins Sept. 17 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.