He sustained an upper-body injury Friday playing for Denmark against Slovenia in a qualifying game for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. He is expected to need 3-4 weeks to recover.
Andersen, 26, was acquired by the Maple Leafs on June 20 in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks. He went 22-9-7 with a 2.30 goals against average and a .919 save percentage in 43 games for the Ducks last season.
"We're thrilled to have him [in Toronto]," Maple Leafs and Team Canada coach Mike Babcock said on Monday in Ottawa. "This gives him extra rest to get ready for the Leafs. He's doing really good. He'll be ready to go for training camp. We don't expect any setbacks. He'll be ready to go.
"It's unfortunate he didn't get to represent his team and build confidence in this tournament, but it's also a good situation for us. We can work with him every day, he'll be very fit and he'll be ready to go when we're ready to go."
The Maple Leafs acquired Andersen and then signed him to a five-year contract with the expectation that he will be their starting goaltender this season. The Maple Leafs are looking to improve with an injection of new talent after finishing 30th in the League standings last season.
The injury leaves Team Europe with two goaltenders, Jaroslav Halak (Slovakia) and Thomas Greiss (Germany). Team Europe is expected to announce a replacement for Andersen on Tuesday.
Team Europe plays its first pretournament game against Team North America at Videotron Centre on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN2, SN, TVA Sports).
While not everyone on Team Europe is familiar with each other, coming from different NHL teams but also from eight different national teams, the two remaining goaltenders know each other quite well. Halak and Greiss spent last season with the New York Islanders, sharing the goaltending duties.
"I'm used to him from last season," Halak said Monday. "Obviously [with] Frederik being out, that didn't help. But we just need to step up and who's going to play, it doesn't matter. We just support each other."
Halak and Greiss split time fairly evenly last season, mostly due to injury trouble for Halak, who went 18-13-4 with a 2.30 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage in 36 games. Greiss was 23-11-4 with a 2.36 GAA and a .925 save percentage in 41 games.
Greiss started all 11 Islanders games during the Stanley Cup Playoffs after Halak sustained a season-ending groin injury March 8 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. He went 5-6 in the postseason with a 2.46 GAA and .923 save percentage, and helped the Islanders advance to the Eastern Conference Second Round. Their defeat of the Florida Panthers in the first round was their first playoff series win since 1993.
Asked about the biggest challenge facing Team Europe, Halak said, "It's obviously getting together, getting to know each other on the ice, their habits. We only have three games to do it, and then on [Sept. 17] we get Team USA right away. That's a really tough start for us, but like I said, there is no easy match at the World Cup."
