{"id":137799,"date":"2026-01-17T14:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T14:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/137799\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T14:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T14:28:08","slug":"could-injury-to-anaheim-ducks-star-open-olympic-door-to-ny-islanders-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/137799\/","title":{"rendered":"Could injury to Anaheim Ducks star open Olympic door to NY Islanders forward?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5g\">The Olympic picture for Sweden may have just shifted \u2014 and that shift could create an unexpected opening for New York Islanders forward Emil Heineman.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5j\">Anaheim Ducks forward Leo Carlsson is expected to miss three to five weeks after undergoing a procedure to address a rare left-thigh injury, a Morel-Lavall\u00e9e lesion. The timeline puts Carlsson\u2019s availability for Olympic preparation in serious doubt and forces Sweden\u2019s selection staff to begin contingency planning sooner than expected.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5m\">Carlsson, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, was widely viewed as a near-lock for Sweden\u2019s Olympic roster after a dominant start to the season with the Ducks, where he piled up 38 points in his first 29 games. Even with a recent scoring lull, his two-way ceiling and pedigree made him a natural fit down the middle. But Olympic tournaments are unforgiving on timelines, and health certainty matters as much as upside.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5p\">That\u2019s where Heineman enters the conversation.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Anaheim Ducks say that Leo Carlsson had a procedure on his left thigh today and will be sidelined 3-to-5 weeks.<\/p>\n<p>A big loss that could potentially have implications for Sweden \ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddea at next month&#8217;s Olympics<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/reporterchris\/status\/2012358003161186610?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5v\">The 24-year-old winger has quietly built a strong case with the Islanders after being acquired in the Noah Dobson deal, carving out a reliable middle-six role that blends pace, physicality, and defensive responsibility. Through 47 games, Heineman has a career-high 14 goals and 8 assists, and has displayed a game that translates well to short international tournaments: he forechecks hard, finishes checks, kills penalties, and can slide up or down a lineup without disrupting chemistry. For Sweden, those traits are often just as valuable as pure scoring.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5y\">If Carlsson\u2019s recovery lingers or limits his readiness, Sweden may prioritize roster flexibility and certainty \u2014 opening the door for players already in rhythm and trusted in defined roles. Heineman fits that profile cleanly. He doesn\u2019t need power-play minutes to be effective, and his north-south style complements Sweden\u2019s traditionally skill-heavy top lines.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"61\">Injuries are an unfortunate reality of the NHL season, but they often reshape international rosters in subtle ways. Carlsson\u2019s absence would remove a star but potentially opens the door for a second Islander to take part in the Winter Olympic tournament in Milan.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Olympic picture for Sweden may have just shifted \u2014 and that shift could create an unexpected opening&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137800,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":["post-137799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}