William Nylander was scheduled to meet the media for the first time since being injured at a World Junior game against Switzerland, but the Swedes decided to pull the plug on his press conference.
Instead, they sent team doctor Adolf Bergsten to face the media.
“It was a late decision,” Dr. Bergsten said, per TSN. “It was taken by team management and of course I was involved as well. We didn’t want to have difficult questions, lights and everything for William and make him think more than he needs to.”
Nylander has been out with a suspected concussion since being leveled by Swiss forward Chris Egli (above).
The IIHF gave Egli a three-game suspension for the hit.
Does this mean Nylander had a setback in his recovery? Not according to the team doctor.
Team Sweden doctor (Bergsten) refuses to call cancellation of news conference a setback
— Mark Masters (@markhmasters) December 31, 2015
When asked if Nylander was symptom-free, Dr. Bergsten said he didn’t want to talk about that.
It’s unclear if the 19-year-old has skated since the injury, but Team Sweden remains hopeful that he’ll be able to get back into the lineup at some point in the tournament.