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Swedish authorities are dropping their investigation into a vicious pre-game slash from a former Toronto Maple Leafs forward during the playoffs earlier this year, appearing to end months of uncertainty around the legal challenges facing Andre Deveaux.

In an email to National Post on Friday, Margaretha Danielsson Olvon, a prosecutor in the Helsingborg office, wrote she has “decided to drop the case.”

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“The suspect has left the country and is not expected to return here,” she wrote.

Deveaux, 31-year-old journeyman from Welland, Ont., made headlines across the hockey world before a Swedish second-division playoff game in March. A shaky video showed a sprint from the sideboards, ending with Deveaux landing a wild swing of his stick on the ankles of an opposing player.

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The player was not injured. Deveaux, playing for Rogle, was eventually given one of the most severe suspensions in the history of Swedish hockey, banished from the game for a year, ineligible to play again until February 15, 2016.