I dont´ see why they would take away the options to create players from Russia or Belarussia. The national teams is enough.
I really hope that EA will level up the customization and the possiblily to edit rosters connectedt to the IIHF licence, otherwise its almost a waste option in the game, that no one would play a lot, because its not fun and you cant edit so it will be fun and playable multiple times.
Yes, numbers should be an option when you create a team. There is clubs in Europe that uses numbers, like Hv71 and in Finland there is a lot of them.
Like VG-62, LeKi-75, LuKi-82, Et-Po 72, Kiekko-67, PK 83, KK-81 and in Slovakia there is HC 19 Humenne and HK 95 Povazska Bystrica. There is even Czech clubs like HC Poruba 2011.