Friday, August 26, 2016

World Cup Player Notes (Aug 26)

It sounds like the foot injury that kept Robin Lehner from the better part of the 2016 season, has not healed as well as he would have hoped and now he is backing out of the World Cup of Hockey to get some extra rest, ahead of Buffalo Sabres training camp.  Taking his spot on Team Sweden's roster will be Toronto's new back-up goalie, Jhonas Enroth.

In all likelihood, Lehner was going to be the number three guy in the pecking order for crease time, behind Henrik Lundqvist and Jacob Markstrom, but he would have had to go through camp and that might have been a couple extra weeks that he could use for rest and healing instead.  This will be a key injury to keep an eye on, as we get closer and closer to the NHL regular season and the hockey pool draft.

Only the Swedish coaching staff truly know what they have planned for a crease schedule, so it will be hard to say how much of an impact Enroth will have, if any at all.  He could really endear himself to his new home with some good play in Toronto during the tournament, but it just seems very unlikely.  He will benefit from an early start to camp though, that couldn't hurt, right?

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