NHL professional Dominik Kahun will strengthen the German national ice hockey team at the 2021 IIHF World Championship in Riga. The Edmonton Oilers striker agreed with the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund and his NHL organization to travel from Canada to Latvia on Tuesday in order to be available to the previously successful team by the end of the preliminary round if possible. The 25-year-old played in 48 regular season games for the franchise from the province of Alberta this season and scored nine goals and six assists. Kahun was used twice in the play-off round against the Winnipeg Jets.
If everything goes according to plan, Kahun will arrive in Riga on Wednesday and then go into individual isolation - as stipulated in the IIHF World Championship regulations. After daily negative corona tests, the first training with the team is possible and possibly a first outing for the Olympic silver medalist on the sixth day after arrival. All organizational and logistical requirements are on the part of the DEB Fulfills.
National coach Toni Söderholm and sports director Christian Künastl were also in contact with Leon Draisaitl. The decision was made together not to allow the 25-year-old top player to travel under the circumstances, which would not have been possible as quickly as with Dominik Kahun.
DEB-President Franz Reindl: “Dominik Kahun will give our national team, which caused ice hockey euphoria at the start of the tournament with outstanding and inspiring performances, even more squad depth and speed in just a few days. I’m sorry for Leon Draisaitl that he can’t be there this time, we completely understand that.”
National coach Toni Söderholm: “Dominik has signaled that he really wants to come to the World Cup. With his speed, his technical skills and his NHL experience, he can add a special element to our game. The fact that he can get on the plane so quickly was the decisive reason. With Leon the circumstances were different and departure was not possible immediately. That's why we decided together that he wouldn't travel to Latvia. He thanked us for our interest and wishes the team every success.”
DEB-Sports director Christian Künast: “Dominik has convincingly proven in the past that he can make us stronger. It gives us even more variations and possibilities in the game, we are looking forward to it. I would also like to say thank you to Ken Holland, the General Manager of the Oilers, for the very quick release of Dominik and the very friendly dealings. We fully understand Leon’s situation and he wished us every success in the rest of the tournament.”