Senators suspend prospect Wikstrand for leaving camp and returning to Sweden

OTTAWA - The Ottawa Senators have suspended defensive prospect Mikael Wikstrand for leaving training camp to return to Sweden.

Wikstrand "disappeared" Thursday without informing the team, general manager Bryan Murray said Friday.

The Senators are barring Wikstrand from playing for another professional team in Europe because he has an NHL contract.

Murray said Wikstrand could work as a grocery clerk or play in a beer league but not in the Swedish Hockey League.

Drafted in the seventh round in 2012, Wikstrand has become one of Ottawa's top prospects.

Wikstrand said on Twitter in Sweden that he returned home because someone in his family was seriously ill.