We’ve had a lot of ups and downs this past week. The bulk of the injuries in the last half of the season have just been minimal which is fortunate. It’s been mostly guys taking an extra day off to heal up a nagging pain or bruise. This is understandable based on the position in the standings the Oilers currently sit in. Thankfully Nuge is set to come off the IR and play in tonight’s game against the Rangers! This means that unless something wild happens between now and then – *knocks on wood* – our Injury Reserve will officially be empty for the first time in a long time.
Kris Russell
The week started with Kris Russell blocking a shot against the LA Kings. Kris blocked a shot with his hands in the game and went straight to the dressing room immediately afterwards. I mean, we had to see this coming sooner or later right? I’m surprised it took 61 games for Russell to get injured from blocking a shot. He’s only done it 191 times this season which makes it even more impressive. I can only imagine what his skin looks like underneath that equipment. His whole body must be one giant bruise, right?
Zack Kassian
I'll take what is tripping, even? Alex.
-ND pic.twitter.com/eCVN3bhRPo
— OilersNation.com (@OilersNation) February 26, 2018
The next game against the Ducks, Kassian gets slew footed behind the net and gets hurt. (no penalty on the play if you’re wondering). Add that to the list of reasons why I hate playing teams in California. We always get hurt! To be honest, I can’t really tell from that replay EXACTLY how Zack went down but I’m just going to blame Ducks anyways and say he got slew footed. Zack ended up missing a game with an undisclosed injury after that takedown. Getting slew footed and falling on your back can’t feel good, so I feel no blame towards Kass for wanting to take a day off. He left the ice slowly and never returned to the game against the Ducks, and, frankly, I wouldn’t have wanted to anyway.
Ryan Nugent Hopkins
McLellan says he has RNH pencilled in to play tomorrow.
— Reid Wilkins (@ReidWilkins) March 2, 2018
Nuge is coming back! It’s been a long month and a half but he’s finally coming back to us. I’m actually shocked to see that it’s only been a month and a half, cause it’s felt way longer than that to me. I also forgot how good of a season Nuge was having before he cracked his ribs in Vegas. He was almost on pace to have a career year and then Brayden McNabb had to go and ruin it for us. Call me crazy, but I have high expectations for Nuge’s return. I fully expect him to come back better than before and continue his strong year. He’s still been more productive on the IR then some other players in the lineup anyways.
Nuge has missed 18 games with broken ribs and he's still scored more recently than Lucic. ?
— Baggedmilk – Beet writer til .500 (@jsbmbaggedmilk) March 2, 2018
RNH’S SEASON SO FAR
SEASON | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | PPG | PPP | SHG | SHP | GWG | OTG | S | S% |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017-2018 | 46 | 16 | 15 | 31 | -4 | 20 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 106 | 15.1 |
NHL CAREER | 441 | 111 | 185 | 296 | -46 | 142 | 26 | 97 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 4 | 993 | 11.2 |
Don’t forget that if you need some good, friendly physiotherapy services please visit our friends at the Capilano Rehab Center. You can call them at (780) 466-1104 or visit their website!