For the second straight year, Arizona forward Tobias Rieder suited up for his native Germany at the World Hockey Championship.
And for the second straight year, Rieder’s tournament was cut short due to injury.
Germany officially ruled him out yesterday with a lower-body injury, following a 6-3 loss to Russia on Monday in which Rieder played just 5:18 before exiting.
Per Arizona Sports, the Coyotes don’t believe the injury is serious and don’t think surgery will be required. That’s a sigh of relief, not unlike the one the team had last year when Rieder underwent a similar scare.
In a preliminary round game against Canada, Rieder suffered a knee injury on a hit from Corey Perry. The incident made for high drama as Rieder was playing for Germany without an NHL contract (he’d eventually ink an extension just prior to the start of the regular season).
After 4-6 weeks of recovery, Rieder was healthy enough to play for Team Europe at the World Cup of Hockey. He then proceeded to have a nice year for the Coyotes, scoring a career-high 16 goals.