Adam Larsson could be out longer than expected

When Adam Larsson was placed on the injured reserve back on Dec. 1, it was expected that he was only going to miss a week of action. Apparently that isn’t the case anymore, as the rugged defender suffered a setback in practice today and could be out longer than expected.

Larsson currently ranks second behind Oscar Klefbom in terms of average time on ice for Oilers skaters, logging 22:30 per game. As of late, he’s slotted in alongside Darnell Nurse on the team’s top pair, and the duo has been very effective.

The Oilers, of course, are already without Andrej Sekera so Larsson missing any extended period of time isn’t ideal. The team snagged old friend Brandon Davidson off of waivers from the Montreal Canadiens this weekend, giving them some more depth to navigate through this injury.

As of right now, Edmonton has Oscar Klefbom, Darnell Nurse, Kris Russell, Matt Benning, Davidson, Yohann Auvitu, and Eric Gryba as defencemen on the roster, though only two of them are right-handed. Last game, Klefbom and Benning played together while Russell went on his off-side to play with Nurse and Gryba and Auvitu formed the third pairing. I would guess that those are the pairs we’ll see Wednesday with Davidson slotting in for either Gryba or Auvitu.

Since Larsson wasn’t skating today, I would venture a guess that he won’t be playing in either of Edmonton’s games against the Leafs and Canadiens this weekend.