Three weeks before the start of the Ice Hockey World Championship, the new national coach Harold Kreis has to accept the next bad news. NHL top striker Tim Stützle is also not available for the German national team at the World Cup in Finland and Latvia (May 12 to 28).
This was confirmed by DEB sports director Christian Künast on the sidelines of the World Cup test against Austria at MagentaSport.
“This year the club simply didn’t give the go-ahead. They said he had a few injuries that he had to heal first. You have to respect that,” said Künast about the talks with the Ottawa Senators. “We made every effort to get him to the end. We had good talks,” Künast continued about the 21-year-old, who collected 90 points for Ottawa in the past season.
NHL player Seider is not there either
This means that the German team is officially missing at least two of the three best German NHL players at the World Cup premiere of national coach Kreis in Stützle and Moritz Seider. Detroit Red Wings defenseman Seider pulled out due to injury.
World-class forward Leon Draisaitl is also tied in the playoffs with his Edmonton Oilers. His participation in the World Cup is also considered unlikely.
Kreis had also received some World Cup cancellations from his former club Adler Mannheim. Defender Korbinian Holzer and striker Matthias Plachta, who have been important pillars of the national team for years, were particularly painful.
According to Künast, striker JJ Peterka from the Buffalo Sabers is due to join the DEB team on May 3 for the final preparation phase in Munich. “Then he is freshly rested. We can look forward to top players there,” said Künast about the 21-year-old.