The Edmonton Oilers have already clinched a postseason berth but they might be fearing a short playoffs run could be coming their way if they cannot get team captain Connor McDavid back in time.
McDavid suffered a lower-body injury in the Oilers win against Calgary on Saturday, April 6 and he is “day-to-day,” according to head coach Kris Knoblauch.
“He’s day-to-day. We’ll find out (the severity) tomorrow, definitely the weekend, but it’s day to day,” Knoblauch told reporters on April 9.
While not ruling McDavid out for the Wednesday, April 10 game against the Vegas Golden Knights, Knoblauch said “There is a chance [he doesn’t play],” adding, “It’s a maintenance thing.”
McDavid missed a second consecutive practice on Tuesday, and Mark Spector of SportsNet provided some more information about when the injury happened last weekend.
Officially, McDavid has a lower body injury and is day to day. Questionable for tmw v. VGK.
Injury happened with roughly 5:00 to play in Calgary Saturday.
Sounds like an injury, but not a major one. With playoffs around the corner, they’ll be careful.
“Officially, McDavid has a lower body injury and is day to day,” Spector posted on his X account on April 9. “Questionable for [tomorrow] vs. VGK. Injury happened with roughly 5:00 to play in Calgary Saturday.
“Sounds like an injury, but not a major one. With playoffs around the corner, they’ll be careful,” Spector concluded.
McDavid played his last shift of Saturday’s game when the clock hit 17:19 in the third and final period of that contest. He stayed on the ice 33 seconds on that shift. After being taken down by Flames forward Blake Coleman while driving to the net, McDavid went to the bench and never returned.
Connor McDavid Out Right Before the Playoffs
McDavid is questionable (and most probably out for precautionary reasons) for Wednesday’s game as the Oilers host the Golden Knights in Edmonton.
After that matchup, the Oilers will still have five more games left in their schedule: home against the Arizona Coyotes and the Vancouver Canucks in a back-to-back on Friday and Saturday, then again a home contest against the San Jose Sharks on Monday, and finally two games on the road on back-to-back days against the Coyotes and the Colorado Avalanche.
“(The return) will be in Connor’s hands. He’ll make the decision on how he feels,” Knoblauch said when asked about who will make the decision about McDavid’s return on April 10 or later.
“We don’t know how bad the injury is,” Knoblauch added, “and we don’t know how early he can come in. He has the best feel of what’s best for him.”
McDavid missed two games earlier this season with an upper-body injury suffered in a 3-2 overtime loss against the Winnipeg Jets on October 21. He returned eight days later on October 29.
While McDavid remains out, the Oilers will use Dylan Holloway who was called up from the American Hockey League to join the team in his absence.
Edmonton Can Still Win the Pacific Division
Edmonton (47-24-5, 99 points) has already secured a postseason berth but the Oilers still have a reasonable chance of finishing the season as the No. 1 seed in the Pacific Division if the team can make a final push.
The Oilers are only 5 points behind the first-place Vancouver Canucks (104 points) in the Pacific Division, but Edmonton has two games in hand over Vancouver. Winning those two games would put Edmonton just 1 point away from matching Vancouver’s points tally with four games left in each of the franchises’ schedules.
“Obviously we’re looking long term and we’re being protective,” Knoblauch said. “But ultimately, [McDavid] knows how he feels and we’ll have that discussion with him tomorrow morning.
“We’ll find out if this is a game (vs. Vegas on April 10) that we should have him playing in. He might say yes, he might say no, he may need another day or two and we’ll decide then.”
McDavid has scored 31 goals and 99 assists in 74 games this season. He’s just one dime shy from 100 on the season, something that has only been accomplished by three other players in NHL history: Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, and Bobby Orr.
McDavid’ 130 points on the season trail only Nathan MacKinnon‘s 137 and Nikita Kucherov‘s 139 after games played on April 9.
“The most important thing is playoffs–that we are ready,” Knoblauch told reporters. “I think we’ve got depth.
“We want to make sure everyone is healthy as much as possible going into the playoffs.”
Drama Hitting Edmonton Oilers at the Wrong Time
The Oilers are only adding more wood to their late-season fire with the news about McDavid’s injury.
On the same game in which McDavid suffered his injury, cameras caught a heated exchange in the Oilers bench between veterans Evander Kane and Corey Perry, as Heavy documented on April 8.
moments after the big scrum at the end of the second, corey perry remained pretty upset, slamming the bench door.
then, he has a cordial conversation with evander kane.
“We’re fine,” Kane told reporters after the game on April 8. “We are partners in the Masters pool.”
“Brothers fight, just trying to bring out the best in everybody,” Perry said on April 8. “It’s not uncommon, cameras caught it and we moved on, we talked about it, we apologize, and that’s it.
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Connor McDavid Out With Injury: ‘We Are Looking Long Term’