Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is close to returning to the Edmonton Oilers lineup, with signs pointing to him lacing up the skates for Saturday’s visit to Seattle.

The longest-serving member of the Oilers has been out of the lineup since November 8th after suffering an undisclosed injury, but centred the team’s third line during a Thursday practice. On his flanks were Andrew Mangiapane and rookie Connor Clattenburg.

He wasn’t the only Oiler at practice who’s been out of the lineup for some time, as Kasperi Kapanen skated on the second line alongside Leon Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin. But during the last practice drill, Kapanen appeared to injure himself, leaving the ice frustrated, Oilersnation’s Jason Gregor reported. Kapanen has been out of the lineup since an Oct. 19 game against the Detroit Red Wings, suffering a knee injury that night.

The Oilers top line at practice saw Connor McDavid centring Matt Savoie and Zach Hyman, while Adam Henrique was up the middle on the fourth line with Trent Frederic and Curtis Lazar as wingers. Jack Roslovic was absent from practice, while David Tomášek skated as an extra.

The blue line remained the same for the Oilers, with Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard on the top pair, Darnell Nurse and Alec Regula on the second and Brett Kulak and Ty Emberson on the third.

The Oilers are looking to rebound after an embarrassing loss to the Dallas Stars Tuesday night, losing 8-3 — their second blowout loss on home ice in the month of November, dropping a 9-1 decision to the Colorado Avalanche on Nov. 8th.

Nugent-Hopkins’ return is a much needed one for the team, who has missed Edmonton’s last nine games, as the eam has gone 4-4-1. He was off to a red hot start before getting injured, scoring five goals and 16 points in 16 games.

Edmonton’s lone game left in November comes Saturday afternoon against the Seattle Kraken, before kicking off a five-game homestand in early December. The Minnesota Wild will visit next Tuesday, the Kraken next Thursday and the Winnipeg Jets next Saturday, before the Buffalo Sabres come to down on Dec. 9 and the Detroit Red Wings on Dec. 11.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.