The Triple Gold Club stands at 27 members right now, and because the NHL isn’t participating in this year’s Olympics that thins out the possible candidates to join when a team wins gold on 25 February.

Indeed, there were 18 possible additions to the Club at the start of the year, but most of those players are in the NHL and can’t win Olympic gold until at least 2022. But Datsyuk, a longtime NHLer who is now back home playing in the KHL, can be added to the winner's list with gold in Korea. 

He won the Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings in 2002 and 2008, and he won World Championship gold with Russia in 2012. As well, Datsyuk has won Olympic bronze (2002), World Championship silver (2010) and bronze (2005, 2016) and played in the World Cup twice (2004, 2016). But an Olympic gold in Korea would be particularly noteworthy and make him the 28^th member of the hallowed TGC. 

Despite Russia having six members of the current 27, the last to make the grade were Alexander Mogilny and Vladimir Malakhov in 2000 after the New Jersey Devils won the Stanley Cup.

Slovakia’s Michal Hanzus was a candidate but has retired, and Michal Roszival of the Czech Republic has continued to experience serious post-concussion symptoms that have kept him off ice for a long time.

Andrei Loktionov is in the KHL and available, but he wasn’t named to the roster of the Olympic Athletes from Russia. The same can be said for Canada’s Steve Reinprecht, currently playing in Germany but not named to his country’s team.

Most of the NHLers are Canadian, and their status has been enriched by virtue of Canada winning gold at the 2015 and 2016 World Championship as well as the last two Olympics.

Martin Jones, Brad Marchand, Jake Muzzin, Tyler Seguin, Jordan Staal, Tyler Toffoli, Cam Ward, and Justin Williams all have the Cup and World gold titles, but they aren’t in Korea.

Other NHLers include Sweden’s Marcus Kruger and Joakim Nordstrom, Radim Vrbata of the Czech Republic, and Russia’s Yevgeni Malkin.

Be that as it may, only Datsyuk is gunning for TGC glory in Korea, hoping to be the 28 member.