Swedish report: Oskar Sundqvist still dogged by thigh injury

Pensburgh reader (and fluent Swedish speaker) xStockinette put a cool comment up, and on her website translated a recent article about Oskar Sundqvist.

Sundqvist, as you might remember, did not skate or do any physical activities last month at the Penguins development camp due to an old injury. And, from the looks of this report, the injury might bug him for a while longer.

Oskar Sundqvist is in Pittsburgh and looking forward to his first season on American soil. But the injure from last spring haunts than the 21-year-old.

The SM-final against Växjö last spring Skelleftea AIK forward Oskar Sundqvist got a nasty laceration in the left thigh. Oskar could, however, continue play in the final and went later to the United States for AHL playoffs with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins.

But the damage was worse than feared. The tendon in the left rear thigh turned out, during an investigation in early summer, to be completely off.

- It probably broke in the SM-finals and after that it has been bothersome. But there were two [surgical?] interventions, one week apart in July. Nice to get it done, says "Sunken".

Left Sweden

On Monday, he and his girlfriend to Pittsburgh, which was earlier than originally planned.

But Oskar will now, together with the Pittsburgh Penguins, have more time for rehabilitation. However, the near future will become a struggle to forward to be "fit for fight" when the NHL's pre-season kicks off in September.

(The link above is full the full interview)

This could be bad news for Sundqvist's chances to make the NHL team straight out of training camp. With the signings of Eric Fehr and Matt Cullen and the trade addition of Nick Bonino the Penguins boosted their bottom six throughout the summer which would have made a spot tough to find.

Even then, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for the 21 year old to start his North American career in Wilkes-Barre, learn the ropes and then graduate to the NHL as he proves that he is ready for it, and more importantly back to 100%.