Tomas Hertl will not be able to compete in the upcoming World Cup of Hockey due to injury, the Czech national team announced on Saturday.
Hertl, 22, injured his right knee late in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on a hit by the Penguins’ Patric Hornqvist. He did not play in the remaining four games of the series.
On June 30, Hertl indicated he would only play in the World Cup if he was completely recovered.
“I just want to be 100 percent ready for the season. … I don’t want to go to the World Cup [at 80 percent] health,” he said.
No offseason surgery was required on the right knee, which is the same one that Hertl hurt in his rookie year, when a knee-on-knee hit from the Kings’ Dustin Brown resulted in a torn MCL and PCL. Hertl missed three-and-a-half months recovering from that injury.
Hertl signed a two-year, $6 million contract extension with the Sharks in the offseason after recording 46 points (21g, 25a) in 81 games. He added six goals and five assists in 20 playoff games, and his absence from the top line was felt in the Stanley Cup Final.
The Sharks still have seven players in the World Cup, including Joe Thornton (Canada), Brent Burns (Canada), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (Canada), Logan Couture (Canada), Joonas Donskoi (Finland), Joe Pavelski (USA) and Mikkel Boedker (Team Europe).
The World Cup runs from Sept. 17 – Oct. 1 in Toronto. The Sharks open training camp on Sept. 23.
Tomas Hertl is expected to be fine for the start of #SJSharks training camp on Sept. 23, I'm told.
— Kevin Kurz (@KKurzCSN) September 3, 2016
