It sounds as if Team Sweden will be minus one of its top defensemen for the first two games of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Mark Stowe, the agent for the Canucks’ Alex Edler, tells News 1130 Sports in Vancouver that his client met with the IIHF over the weekend and that the ruling should be made official soon.
The two games come in addition to the suspension Edler received for his knee-on-knee hit on Eric Staal in a game between Sweden and Canada at the 2013 World Championships this spring.
It’s unlikely the suspension will have a significant effect on Sweden’s chances at the Olympics. Minus Edler, the country remains deep on defense with the likes of Erik Karlsson, Niklas Kronwall, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The Swedes are also in a relatively easy group, with the Czech Republic, Latvia and Switzerland.
There’s some speculation the Swedes will opt to leave Edler off the roster entirely, but that seems unlikely to us.