Former NHL defenseman has spinal surgery after discovery of cancerous tumor.

Huge update.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 4 years ago
Former NHL defenseman has spinal surgery after discovery of cancerous tumor.
Larry McDougal/Zuma

This was an extremely scary situation but thankfully it sounds like we are coming out of this with some good news. 

A few weeks ago it was revealed that former National Hockey League defenseman Alexander Sulzer had been given a cancer diagnosis after a cancerous tumor had been discovered on his spine of all things. Needless to say that was a very dark and very serious moment for Sulzer who is still only 35 years old, and it was made even more so when it became clear that he would have to go under the knife in an effort to remove the cancerous tumor. 

Well according to a report from Szymon Szemberg out of Europe it now appears that Sulzer has undergone his surgery. Szemberg is reporting that Dusseldorger EG, the hockey club that the former NHLer currently plays for, has confirmed that the tumor has now been completely removed after a "cervical spine surgery," this week. Obviously cervical spine surgery sounds like a rather invasive procedure and there are a variety of concerns about Sulzer's health moving forward, but it sounds like so far everything is going according to plan. Although the team would not officially set a date for his return, they did state that they "hope" that Sulzer would return to the ice eventually following the procedure. 

For those of you not familiar with Sulzer he was a former Nashville Predators draft pick when the Preds selected hi, in the third round (92nd overall) of the 2003 National Hockey League Entry Draft. He would go out to play in several games for the Predators before making quick stops with the Florida Panthers, Vancouver Canucks and Buffalo Sabres before eventually returning to his native Europe.

Obviously his recovery here is terrific news and although he will likely need to be monitored for several months going forward as a result of his cancerous tumor, we hope that this is the first step in Sulzer's journey towards being 100% cancer free. Again we have not received word regarding when Sulzer will return to the ice, but we will be providing you with more updates on his health and his status as they become available.

Source: