{"id":27738,"date":"2018-04-23T16:33:56","date_gmt":"2018-04-23T20:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=27738"},"modified":"2018-04-23T16:37:48","modified_gmt":"2018-04-23T20:37:48","slug":"ottawa-senators-erik-karlsson-to-skip-world-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2018\/04\/23\/ottawa-senators-erik-karlsson-to-skip-world-championships\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa Senators Erik Karlsson to Skip World Championships; Swedish Team Named"},"content":{"rendered":"

It has been a tumultuous season for Erik Karlsson<\/a><\/strong>, and one filled with disappointment on the ice and tragedy off of it. With all that in mind the superstar Ottawa Senators<\/a> defenseman has decided to decline the invitation to play for Sweden at the upcoming World Championships.<\/p>\n

Erik Karlsson<\/a> Declines World Championship Spot<\/h1>\n

Karlsson has battled through off-season surgery that removed part of his ankle. He was plagued by rumours that the Senators were looking to move him at the trade deadline. Worst of all though, was a tragedy at home, with Karlsson and his wife Melinda lost their\u00a0child just weeks before the due date. With all that in mind, it’s easy to see why he won’t be representing his country.<\/p>\n

Sweden confirmed that Karlsson would not participate when they released the list of players named to the team.<\/p>\n

Sweden’s Team for the World Championships<\/h2>\n

Sweden named the following team:<\/p>\n

Goaltenders<\/h3>\n

Filip Gustavsson<\/strong>, Ottawa Senators
\nAnders Nilsson<\/a><\/strong>, Vancouver Canucks
\nMagnus Hellberg<\/a><\/strong>, Kunlun Red Stars<\/p>\n

Defence<\/h3>\n

John Klingberg<\/a><\/strong>, Dallas Stars<\/a>
\nMikael Wikstrand<\/strong>,\u00a0F\u00e4rjestads BK
\nAdam Larsson<\/a><\/strong>, Edmonton Oilers
\nLawrence Pilut<\/strong>, HV 71
\nOliver Ekman-Larsson<\/a><\/strong>, Arizona Coyotes<\/a>
\nErik Branstrom<\/strong>, HV 71
\nAdam Almqvist<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Fr\u00f6lunda HC
\nErik Gustafsson<\/a><\/strong>, Chicago Blackhawks\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Forwards<\/h3>\n

Adrian Kempe<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Los Angeles Kings\u00a0<\/a>
\nMikael Backlund<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Calgary Flames\u00a0<\/a>
\nJohan Larsson<\/a><\/strong>, Buffalo Sabres<\/a>
\nMattias Janmark<\/a><\/strong>, Dallas Stars
\nJacob Nilsson<\/strong>, Mora IK
\nDennis Everberg<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk
\nPatrik Zackrisson<\/strong>,\u00a0Sibir Novisibirsk
\nLias Andersson<\/a><\/strong>, New York Rangers<\/a>
\nJacob de La Rose<\/a><\/strong>, Montreal Canadiens<\/a>
\nJohn Norman<\/strong>,\u00a0Jokerit Helsinki
\nAxel\u00a0Jonsson Fj\u00e4llby<\/strong>,\u00a0Djurg\u00e5rdens IF
\nCarl Klingberg<\/a><\/strong>, EV Zug
\nMagnus Paajarvi<\/a><\/strong>, Ottawa Senators
\nMika Zibanejad<\/a><\/strong>,\u00a0New York Rangers<\/p>\n

Other high-profile Swedes who declined invitations include Detroit Red Wings<\/a> veterans\u00a0Henrik Zetterberg<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Niklas Kronwall<\/a><\/strong>;\u00a0New York Rangers<\/a> goalie Henrik Lundqvist<\/a><\/strong>; St. Louis Blues<\/a> forwards\u00a0Patrik Berglund<\/strong>\u00a0and Alex Steen<\/a><\/strong>; Carolina Hurricanes<\/a> forwards\u00a0Victor Rask<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and Elias Lindholm<\/a><\/strong>; and Vancouver Canucks<\/a> defenceman\u00a0Alexander Edler<\/a> <\/strong>and\u00a0goaltender Jacob\u00a0Markstrom<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Main Photo:\u00a0OTTAWA, ON – MARCH 29: Ottawa Senators Defenceman Erik Karlsson (65) waits for a face-off during third period National Hockey League action between the Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators on March 29, 2018, at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON, Canada. (Photo by Richard A. Whittaker\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It has been a tumultuous season for Erik Karlsson, and one filled with disappointment on the ice and tragedy off of it. With all that in mind the superstar Ottawa Senators defenseman has decided to decline the invitation to play for Sweden at the upcoming World Championships. Erik Karlsson Declines World Championship Spot Karlsson has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26475,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[304,34,8],"tags":[3237,550,2874,70,1102],"class_list":["post-27738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-hockey","category-news","category-senators","tag-2018-iihf-world-championship","tag-erik-karlsson","tag-iihf-world-championship","tag-ottawa-senators","tag-team-sweden"],"modified_by":"Ben Kerr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27738","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27738"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27738\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}