Alex Edler suspended for rest of IIHF Worlds after kneeing Eric Staal

Carolina Hurricanes fans are on edge waiting to hear about the severity of a knee injury captain Eric Staal suffered Thursday during Canada's World Championships quarterfinal game against Sweden.

Late in the first period, Staal took a knee-on-knee hit from Swedish defenseman Alex Edler and went down in pain. Edler was kicked out of the game and on Friday the IIHF suspended him for the rest of the tournament.

Once again, here's the hit:

From the IIHF:

After reviewing the video evidence and the respective reports, including the Game Supervisor Report, the Referee Supervisor Report, the verbal medical report and the report from the hearing with the player, the panel has determined that Edler should have been penalized with a match penalty as he was in clear violation of the playing rule 536b (Kneeing).

...

The disciplinary panel deemed Edler’s action as reckless, dangerous and that it was in disregard to the vulnerability of his opponent and for that he must be held accountable.

Edler will miss Sweden's semifinal game against Finland on Saturday and either the bronze or gold medal game on Sunday, depending on the result.

Staal is flying back to Raleigh on Friday and is scheduled to undergo an MRI on Saturday to assess the damage.

“It’s unfortunate and hopefully it’s not too serious,” Rutherford told Chip Alexander of the News Observer. “If it is serious, hopefully there will be enough recovery time for him to be ready for next season.

"We’ll just hope for the best.”

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy