It was reported on Wednesday morning that Red Wings veteran, and longtime rearguard of Team Sweden Niklas Kronwall will miss the World Cup of Hockey due to injury:
Niklas Kronwall is out of World Cup 2016 due to injury. Hampus Lindholm takes his spot on Team Sweden. #WCOH2016
— Uffe Bodin (@UffeBodin) August 24, 2016
Kronwall, a 35-year-old 11-year NHL mainstay, has dealt with plenty of health issues over the past few years. Most recently one being his knee, which he had scoped in the previous season. There is no word as to what the injury is right now, but one can only assume that this is lower-body related. If it is in fact his knee bothering him again, I have serious concern for what this means going forward. The perpetual injuries Kronwall has had hints that there is no full recovery in the future for him. This news, of course, all coming just a day after Ken Holland told Dan Rosen of NHL.com that Kronwall was “feeling a lot better.”
Since Kronwall will be missing the World Cup due to injury, you can expect him to miss training camp activities, as both events fall around the same time. This raises concern if he will even be ready for preseason, or even the regular season.
Sweden will be getting an upgrade with his replacement in Hampus Lindholm, who has emerged as one of the NHL’s top young defensemen. Team sweden will now have Erik Karlsson, Victor Hedman, Hampus Lindholm, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Mattias Ekholm, and Anton Stralman as their defensive corps. Mercy.
UPDATE (8/24/16 12:21 pm ET):
A report out of Sweden (expressen) confirms that Kronwall is being held out of the World Cup due to a knee injury he sustained last season:
On Wednesday came the next cancellation. Detroit’s back veteran Niklas Kronwall , 35, will not be able to be ready for play in time for last season’s knee injury.
More from Team Sweden head coach Rickard Grönborg:
Niklas has worked really hard to get back after his injury. The time has now ran out and he won’t be able to recover in time [for the tournament] and he has declined the invitation to participate.”
s/t to Patrik Bexell over at Eyes On The Prize for translation and tip from Swedish media
