The German national ice hockey team will have to do without shooting star Tim Stützle at the World Championships (from May 12). As sports director Christian Künast explained on the sidelines of the international match against Austria on Saturday, the 21-year-old attacker from the NHL club Ottawa Senators will not be released for the tournament in Tampere and Riga.
“We tried hard for him to the end. The club said that he had some injuries that he had to heal. You have to accept that,” said Künast on the MagentaSport microphone: “He was ready to play for us. But the club has the last word. The way he’s played this season, he’s their best player.”
Stützle had missed the play-offs with the Sens, but the youngster personally impressed in his third season in the world’s strongest ice hockey league with 39 goals and 51 assists in 78 games.
Defender Moritz Seider of the Detroit Red Wings, who was named the best NHL rookie last season, had previously declared that he would not play the World Cup. Superstar Leon Draisaitl is still fighting for the longed-for championship title with the Edmonton Oilers in the play-offs, and goalie Philipp Grubauer is still in the running for the Stanley Cup with Seattle Kraken.
John Jason Peterka, on the other hand, is expected in Munich on May 3rd for the final phase of the World Cup preparations. The attacker from the Buffalo Sabers is “a similar caliber to Tim Stützle and will do us good,” said Künast.