Sean Monahan pulls out of the World Cup of Hockey with back strain

Four Flames are going to the World Cup of Hockey. (Five, if you count Schrodinger’s Jakub Nakladal.) That number changed for a moment when Mikael Backlund was added to Team Sweden in lieu of Henrik Zetterberg, but we’re back down to four, as Sean Monahan has withdrawn from Team North America.

Johnny Gaudreau is still slated to represent Team Barely Legal, and Jyrki Jokipakka and Michael Frolik (and Nakladal, if you want) are still in for their respective teams. But according to the Flames, a back strain will leave Monahan unable to attend World Cup camp, which starts Sept. 4. Vincent Trocheck has been selected as his replacement.

The bad news? Well, we don’t get to watch Monahan in action as soon as anticipated, but that’s about it.

For us, at least; by the sounds of things, Monahan himself was actually looking forward to playing in the tournament. There have been a number of players who have dropped out of the World Cup the past few days – the aforementioned Zetterberg, Duncan Keith, Jeff Carter, and David Krejci, to name some – which is a little eyebrow-raising, to say the least.

But Monahan? He wanted to play.

The good news? The strain isn’t serious, as Monahan believes he would have been good to play in the World Cup when it kicks off Sept. 17, but didn’t want to stress it during training camp.

The really good news? That means he’s keeping himself in top shape for the team that just signed him to a seven-year, almost-$45 million deal: his number one priority.

We’ve seen what can happen to this team when it loses a key player before the season even gets started – stay well, T.J. Brodie! – so to see Monahan dial it back as much as he feels is necessary and ensure that Oct. 12 is his main focus, rather than Sept. 17, is definitely welcome. The Flames are going to need a good start to the season to actually get themselves in the playoff hunt, and Monahan will undoubtedly be a big part of that.

Jyrki Jokipakka’s own status, meanwhile, was in question, but he’s on track to play for Team Finland.