As we wait to hear when the 2020-21 NHL season will begin, Oskar Lindblom received some wonderful news this week.
Just over a year after he was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, the Flyers forward learned that he remains cancer-free, his girlfriend, Alma Linqvist wrote in Instagram.
“It’s been tough, but you learn a lot about yourself,” he told Sports Illustrated’s Alex Prewitt in July. “You can complain that you’re tired one day, you don’t want to go to work, you don’t want to work out… I probably shouldn’t complain when I’m healthy and I have my dream job of playing hockey and can just be thankful for life.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CI1ptdVl3_s/
The 24-year-old played only 30 regular season games for the Flyers after his diagnosis last December. The March NHL pause allowed him time to continue getting better with the hope he could play again that season. In early July, Lindblom finished his cancer treatments at at Abramson Cancer Center at Pennsylvania Hospital and got to ring the bell. Later that month he was voted a finalist for the Bill Masterton Trophy and signed a three-year extension.
August was the on-ice start of Lindblom’s comeback. He joined the Flyers for morning skate on Aug. 16 and suited up for Game 6 of their Second Round series against the Islanders on Sept. 3.
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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.