According to a report by Swedish media outlet Aftonbladet, Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom will not participate in the 2021 IIHF World Championship, currently underway in Riga, Latvia. Backstrom was invited to join Team Sweden earlier in the day on Monday. The report stated the reason Backstrom declined to join Team Sweden was because he was dealing with a “troubled hip.”
Capitals forward Carl Hagelin also received an invitation to join Team Sweden, however, Hagelin also declined to participate. No reason for why Hagelin declined was provided.
When asked about injuries following Sunday night’s 3-1 season-ending loss to the Bruins, Backstrom would not say if he was dealing with an injury or not, but did say he thinks all teams are banged up at this time of year.
Nicklas Backstrom re: injuries: “We all played. I feel like at this time of the year everyone on every team has players banged up. There is no excuse.” #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/8u3DfMcUup
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) May 24, 2021
The Russian Hockey Federation announced on Monday that Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin will not participate in the 2o21 IIHF World Championships, currently underway in Riga, Latvia. It was reported that Ovechkin declined because he was also dealing with an unspecified injury.
According to RHF, Alex Ovechkin will not participate in the World Championship due to injury. #ALLCAPS https://t.co/Rruj00lyG1
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) May 24, 2021
The Russian Hockey Federation also announced on Monday that Capitals’ defenseman Dmitry Orlov and Capitals goaltender Ilya Samsonov will join the Russian National team in Latvia.
According to RHF, goaltender Ilya Samsonov and defenseman Dmitry Orlov are planning to participate in the World Championship. #ALLCAPS https://t.co/6xUyM6bSmM
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) May 24, 2021
Capitals forward Evgeny Kuznetsov is ineligible to participate in Russian National team activities until 2023. He received a four-year ban by the Russian Hockey Federation in 2019 when he tested positive for cocaine.
Capitals defensive prospect Tobias Geisser (Swiss) and forward prospect Aliaksei Protas (Belarus) are the only Capitals prospects currently playing in the 2021 World Championship.
By Jon Sorensen
Follow @nova_caps
No surprise that Backstrom isn’t playing in the IIHF World Championships. I know guys generally are banged up in the playoffs but the Caps’ injury situation was worse than normal banged up.
It’s not as much of a requirement for Swedes to play in the World Championships as it seems to be for Russian hockey players.
This year was just one thing after another and in hindsight you can see why they struggled at the end of the year and into the playoffs. Here’s to 2021-22 season success.
True Marky. And it seemed to all unravel in the final 2-3 weeks of the season. The trouble will be for Mac to determine what he really has, and what really needs changing.
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