Washington Capitals defenseman Rasmus Sandin sustained what appeared to be a serious knee injury in the first period of Team Sweden’s IIHF 2023 World Championship preliminary game against Team USA on Tuesday.
Only minutes into the game, Team USA and Tampa Bay Lightning forward Mason Eyssimont collided with Sandin along the boards, delivering a knee-to-knee blow to Sandin’s left knee.
Rasmus Sandin is in a lot of pain and has left the game after Michael Eyssimont got him in the knee. #IIHFworlds pic.twitter.com/B0upxvDpSM
— Steven Ellis (@SEllisHockey) May 23, 2023
Sandin was left lying on the ice for a while but would eventually be led off with the help of managers and players.Sandin was unable to put any weight on his left leg and would go directly to the locker room.
During the the first intermission, Team Sweden announced that Sandin would not return to the game and that the defender would be further examined following the game.
The injury looked like it could have been significant, but word came from Team Sweden Wednesday morning that Sandin is currently listed as “day-to-day with a lower body injury,” and could potentially return to play in the tournament.
Tre Kronor kallar in Christian Folin och Dennis Rasmussen till hockey-VM. 🇸🇪🏒
André Petersson har drabbats av en underkroppsskada och kan inte återkomma till spel i VM. Rasmus Sandin är dag-till-dag med en underkroppsskada. pic.twitter.com/XUaETApwOE— Tre Kronor (@Trekronorse) May 24, 2023
Sandin has started all games in the top pairing for Team Sweden. He entered Tuesday’s game with one assist in six games played at the worlds.
Team Sweden announced its final roster for the 2023 IIHF World Championships (WC) on May 9. Sandin made the final roster while Capitals newly acquired defenseman Hardy Haman Aktell did not make the final 25-man roster.
Wednesday is a day off for the tournament with the quarterfinals beginning on Thursday. Team Sweden will face Team Latvia in their first elimination game on Thursday at 12:20 PM ET.
By Jon Sorensen
RELATED
Rasmus Sandin: “Everyone Knows What Kind Of Hockey Player He Is, But As A Person, He Is Even Greater”
Rasmus Sandin Makes Team Sweden’s Final Roster For World Championships, Hardy Haman Aktell Does Not
Ah, that’s relatively great news! That looked ugly.
Greetings folks! Just a quick note, if you haven’t done so already, please consider subscribing to NoVa Caps posts in the “subscribe” box located in the upper right corner. Thank you!
Merely a flesh wound!
“You’re ok, it’s just a bruise” is an outstanding book. Highly recommend!
Thank god! Maybe that’s our change in luck right there!
NHL Conference Finals update:
D Jake Slavin CAR had his head down! Skating behind his own goal, early in the game, gets drilled by F Bennet FLA. Jake has his “bell rung” … hopefully no concussions. Staggers off the ice. Somehow FLA comes out of that with 5-4 power play. Two observations:
1) CAR took MANY liberties with opponents during playoff games over the past 7 or so years. The series they won in seven over the Caps some years back was chicken-pocked with serious business cheap shots on Caps players, esp. D Brooks Orpik. ZERO sympathy for CAR teams absorbing hits, even paybacks. I like Brind’Amour as a coach … but CAR is one of the main Dirty NHL franchises, esp. during playoffs
2) The exact, same, identical hit, performed by this guy on the Caps named Wilson, would have earned a 25-game suspension from Cap-hating Kommissar Gory Bottmann and the “department of player safety”
Heated tempers, but G Bobrovsky is too dialed in for CAR
One more CAR vs FLA observation:
The Caps were really eager, some years back, to get rid of this “over the hill” defender Radko Gudas.
Au contraire! Mr. Gudas is an integral part of FLA playoff success this season. Snarl and smarts, hits and shoots. Stay-at-home yes but the “rap” on Gudas for being too slow and clumsy falls to the ground in first-hand observation.
Even though Gudas was Free-agented to CAR in 2020, I count Gudas not being retained as yet another dubious Reirden-ism from that man’s infamous reign behind the Caps’ bench
He did make more than a few stupid mistakes back in the days. But appears to be much steadier now. 🙂
I don’t even recognize Gudas. He seems to be a completely different player. But I’m happy for him, he’s paid his dues.
Grown man, father and all?)) He’s got, what, four now? Had three when he was in DC, but it may have caught up to him))
Florida in Four over CAR
CAR was slicker, had territory advantage nearly the whole series
But shots only count when they go in. FLA had superior goaltending and defense
Sort of like the Caps in 2018