About That Knee
4 years ago
With all the consternation about whether Connor McDavid and his injured posterior cruciate ligament will be ready for the opening of Edmonton Oilers’ training camp, we got a significant update from TSN 1260 reporter Tom Gazzola late this afternoon.
While Gazzola’s information was based on a conversation he had with a goaltender who participated with McDavid in a Toronto area hockey camp put on by Gary Roberts, and thus wasn’t first hand right from McDavid, it’s certainly more solid than the speculation we’ve heard all summer about the status of his left knee.
“I was in Calgary all last week helping out at a hockey school and one of the guys there at camp skated with McDavid the last few weeks at the Gary Roberts camp,” Gazzola told Jason Gregor during his drive time radio show on TSN 1260. “He’s a goalie, so he’s faced him in the NHL, he’s faced him this summer. He actually said that McDavid looked unreal. Still head and shoulders above anyone else when it comes to speed and the way he’s handling himself and the way he’s skating, so that was a refreshing thing to hear, especially if you’re an Oilers’ fan.
“I know we’ve been worried collectively in terms of is he going to play pre-season games? How many pre-season games? Is he going to play . . . just to hear from another player who is seeing him on the ice every day, especially recently, that he looks like he’s in game shape and the speed and what he’s able to do with his feet hasn’t been hampered all that much right now is a good sign.”
THE BUZZ
Speculation reached a pitch when @Connor McDavid didn’t take on-ice sessions at the BioSteel camp – even though he was working out and skating at Roberts’ camp. Would his knee be ready for the start of training camp? Would it be ready in time for the start of the regular season? McDavid didn’t offer many answers when he was scrummed at the camp.
“It’s been a long process,” McDavid told 590 The Fan Aug. 26. “There’s been a lot that’s gone into it. Lots of different stuff. I’m lucky that I have some pretty good doctors working on it and a really good rehab team working on it. I’ve been really lucky.”
While McDavid hasn’t been taking contact, at least that we know of, he’s been skating for a couple of months now and following the treatment regimen that has been laid out for him. He’s maintained all along that his goal is to be ready for the start of camp.
How close McDavid is or isn’t to that goal – it’s not like he has to make the team and can’t miss a day or two, if need be — remains to be seen, but if Gazzola’s information is good, and there isn’t any reason to believe it’s not, it would seem McDavid is pretty much right on schedule. At the very least, we can put aside earlier speculation that his rehab wasn’t going well.
Previously by Robin Brownlee
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