With news coming today that the Detroit Red Wings have placed forward Johan Franzen on injured reserve, and that Franzen has withdrawn from playing in the upcoming Winter Olympics, the door has perhaps been opened for the Nashville Predators to send a third representative to the Sochi Games, as Patric Hornqvist is a candidate to fill in for Franzen. Shea Weber will play for Canada, while Roman Josi will represent Switzerland.
Sweden hasn’t named a replacement for Franzen, but the Red Wings’ Gustav Nyquist is one of three players on its reserve list, along with Washington’s Marcus Johansson and Nashville’s Patric Hornqvist.
Hornqvist has been one of Nashville’s most consistently competitive forwards after being named an alternate captain this season, but the results haven’t shown up on the scoreboard as often. During the three seasons from 2009-10 to 2011-12, Hornqvist scored goals at a pace of 27.2 per 82 games, whereas between last season and this one he is scoring at just a 15.5 goals per 82 rate. He is currently tied with Nick Spaling for 5th on the Predators in goal-scoring.
Working in his favor may be his experience relative to the other two options noted by Khan above, and the fact that Hornqvist was part of Sweden’s 2010 Olympic team, scoring one goal in four games.
What do you think, does Hornqvist deserve the nod? And if selected, is it a good thing for him to go, or would you rather he rest up for the stretch drive of Nashville’s season?
