It was the news we’ve all been expecting, but the Oilers have officially shut down Oscar Klefbom for the season as he will undergo a procedure to correct whatever is wrong with his shoulder.
It’s been a weird year for Oscar Klefbom. With the Oilers coming into this season with sky-high expectations and Stanley Cup dreams, it was up to players like Oscar Klefbom to step up their respective game to make sure those lofty goals were met. Unfortunately, that didn’t really happen for the big Swede this year (or really anyone for that matter) as he struggled to regain the form that we saw from him just a year ago. Now that we know he’s been battling with a shoulder injury all year, his struggles start to make a lot more sense.
While we don’t know exactly what is going on with Klefbom’s shoulder apart from needing to “clean” it up, there’s no doubt that shutting him down now and giving him as much possible recovery time is the best possible idea for the Oilers. A little more than a week ago, Klefbom underwent a ‘minor procedure‘ to have a look at whether or not he would need to go under the knife for something more significant. Clearly, the doctors found issues that needed further attention as he will now miss the rest of the season.
Over at Elite Prospects, Klefbom spoke to Uffe Bodin a little bit about the surgery and being unable to go to the World Championships:
“It would have been so much fun to go. Especially for us Swedes when it’s played in Copenhagen. It’s close to Sweden. There would have been a lot of Swedes and a lot of my friends will go down there for the tournament. It’s a bummer for me.”
Unfortunately for the Oilers and fans, the death march takes another blow as one of their best defencemen will be back on the shelf with an injury. After playing his first healthy season ever in 2016-17, Klefbom will head back to the IR with an injury that can hopefully be corrected by the time next season rolls around. Considering his age, contract, and overall skill set, it’s in the Oilers best interest to give Klefbom as much time as possible to recover and get ready for next year.
The death by 1000 cuts continues to pile up.
KLEFBOM’S 2017-18 SEASON
| Season | GP | G | A | P | +/- | PIM | PPG | PPP | SHG | SHP | GWG | OTG | S | S% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-2018 | 66 | 5 | 16 | 21 | -12 | 18 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 203 | 2.5 |
| NHL Career | 255 | 24 | 70 | 94 | -36 | 34 | 4 | 27 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 564 | 4.3 |
Source: Bob Stauffer, Verified Twitter Account, 3/19/2018 – 12:07 pm MST
Oilers need some help on the wing that much is obvious, Ottawa’s GM has some interest on some of Edmonton’s players but no one knows who for sure, I’d like to get Hoffman but at what cost, Rumor is for Nuge but I wouldn’t do that trade, Nuge has more Value then Hoffman, would you guys do Klefbomb for Hoffman straight across?? I can see that trade happening but it’s tough to trade Klef even after a down year.
I would not do that. I’d rather wait until we can move Sekera or Russell before making any rash decisions.
This management group has done some idiotic things this season but this has to be near the top. The team has known Klef has needed some kind of surgery for at least a couple of weeks and instead of getting him in so he has as much off-season time as possible to recover they get him to play more games.
This must mean Sekera is not hurt and Russell is ready to play. Makes sense to keep Bear here and give him a jolt for off season training and then some top pairing expirience in the AHL next year. Hope they don’t do what they did with Nurse and start him in the NHL 2nd year as a pro. I think that slowed Nurses development and then they would not have had to resign Russell as Nurse would have been a top 4 player last year.
Why were they playing Klefbom in the first place when they didn’t have chance of making the playoffs.?