Injured Knights center isn’t on Sweden’s Olympic roster

William Karlsson will not be representing his country for the second straight year.

The Golden Knights center was not listed on Sweden’s Winter Olympics roster when it was unveiled Friday.

Karlsson, 32, has not played since Nov. 8 after suffering a lower-body injury. He has been week to week since then with no timetable on a return.

Coach Bruce Cassidy anticipated that Karlsson would be back before the Olympics, giving some runway that he might make the roster.

It’s a tough blow for Karlsson, who is missing best-on-best competition for the second straight year. He was named to Sweden’s roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off, but had to withdraw because of a lower-body injury.

Karlsson posted back-to-back 50-point seasons, including a 30-goal season in 2023-24, but was limited to 29 points in 53 games last season.

He has been held to seven points in 14 games this season.

Sweden’s roster is deep at center with Joel Eriksson Ek, Leo Carlsson, Elias Lindholm and Elias Pettersson on the roster.

Karlsson could always be added as an injury replacement — and showed in the playoffs he could play on the wing — but that doesn’t look to be the case right now.

The Knights have six players confirmed for the Olympics. Mark Stone, Shea Theodore and Mitch Marner will represent Canada. Noah Hanifin will join Jack Eichel on Team USA. Jonas Rondbjerg was one of the first six named to the Denmark roster.

More players probably will be announced in the coming days. Tomas Hertl will be in consideration for the Czech Republic, and Akira Schmid is likely to be one of the three goalies selected for Switzerland.

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.