Hertl the latest to withdraw with injury; opts to put NHL club “first”

Sep 5, 2016 | 10:30 AM

OTTAWA — San Jose Sharks winger Tomas Hertl is the latest player to pull out of the World Cup of Hockey with an injury.

The 22-year-old withdrew from the Czech Republic squad, citing the need to be ready for the start of the Sharks regular season. San Jose’s general manager, Doug Wilson, said he was pleased Hertl had “chosen to put his commitment to the Sharks and his teammates first.”

That line of thinking has been common in the weeks leading up to the revived two-week tournament. About a dozen players have withdrawn because of injury concerns, including Jamie Benn and Duncan Keith from Team Canada.

“I know he’s disappointed to not be able to represent his country,” Wilson said of Hertl in a statement. “But Tomas is on track to be ready for the start of the NHL season and he doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that.”

The Czechs also saw No. 1 centre David Krejci and defenceman Radko Gudas pull out with injury. Sweden has lost Alex Steen and Henrik Zetterberg, as well as defenceman Niklas Kronwall and goaltender Robin Lehner. Sean Monahan, who recently signed a seven-year extension with Calgary, withdrew from the North American squad because of a back strain.

“We anticipate that this is not a long-term issue and plan on having Sean healthy and ready for the start of our training camp,” Flames GM Brad Treliving said in a statement.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, meanwhile, are setting aside Frederik Andersen’s World Cup plans. Their new No. 1 goaltender suffered an upper body injury during an Olympic qualifier late last week. 

The Leafs said Monday that Andersen will be out for three to four weeks but they expect him to be ready for the regular season. He was supposed to play for Team Europe at the World Cup. 

Jeff Carter was the latest Canadian to pull out of the tournament, doing so just days before Monday’s start to training camp in Ottawa.

Unlike the Czechs, who had maybe the weakest roster in the tournament at full health, the Canadians have a rich pool of depth. Logan Couture (Benn’s replacement) was the leading scorer of the 2016 post-season, while Corey Perry (Carter’s fill-in) ranks third in NHL goal-scoring since the start of the 2007-08 season.

Jay Bouwmeester, otherwise, was an obvious downgrade from Keith, a winner of both the Conn Smythe and Norris Trophies.

“What we have the luxury of is depth so if you have injuries you can go to a player that might have a little more stature than some of the other countries,” Canadian general manager Doug Armstrong said in a recent interview. “But when you just look at the best Swedes and the best Canadians and the best Americans there’s not a huge difference between that level of player.

“I think at that second tier (we might have) more depth.”

The spate of injury withdrawals speaks to the challenge of holding the World Cup right before the start of the season.

NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr acknowledged in an interview that the timing wasn’t ideal, “but it probably is, at the moment, better than the others.” He added that the NHL and NHLPA had discussed informally the possibility of staging the World Cup in February, an option that could be considered moving forward.

What might hasten that conversation is a long-term injury to a key player during the World Cup that would affect his ability to play in the NHL regular season.

“That’s going to be the one probably downer in all of this,” Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper said in a recent interview, “if somebody gets lost to a long-term injury.”

Jonas Siegel, The Canadian Press