The Buffalo Sabres developmental pipeline received a blow on
Monday when it was learned that goaltender Jonas Johansson was dropped from
Sweden’s World Junior Championship roster due to injury.
It has been a tough year for Johansson, who missed the start of the season for Brynas IF while battling a bacterial infection. He returned
in late October and began splitting time between Brynas’ top league entry and their
J20 SuperElit squad prior to being named to Sweden’s preliminary camp roster.
The plan was for Johansson to play in a few J20 games right before leaving for
camp, but he was curiously missing from the lineup following his early exit
from a game on Dec. 9, and we now know why.
Johansson’s World Junior prospects were looking good as
recently as August, when he sparkled with 35 saves in 4-3 victory over Team USA
to emerge as Sweden’s go-to keeper for their summer run at the U.S. and
Canadian evaluation camps.
Just last week in an interview, Johansson discussed how he
had to overcome the setbacks leading up to the tournament. It now appears that
he has another hurdle in front of him.
