Capilano Rehab Centre Injury Report – November 17, 2015

Day 17 without him. Another week has dragged by and we are still without Connor McDavid. We finally got to see his face for the first time yesterday as McDavid spoke to the media at Clareview Arena. 

Wouldn’t you know it, two weeks after the kid destroys his collarbone he is no longer feeling any pain and is already doing some light upper body workouts. They’re either pumping Mcdavid’s shoulder full of stem cells, or they took all of our collar bone donation requests seriously. Amazingly, his healing speed is almost as fast as he is on the ice. Either way this is great news for Oiler fans, the league, and the rest of the team. There is still no timeline on McDavid’s return, but my imaginary sources predict he will be back in time for the BAO game on December 27. Baggedmilk might tell you he came up with that return date first, but don’t listen to him – he’s a liar. However, the “professionals” might tell you he’ll probably be back later in January. I think they’re bluffing.

The Oilers are 1-4 since McDavid went down (not counting the game he was injured), so the plan to play around .500 hockey until McDavid’s return isn’t going so well right now. That being said, I STILL HAVE FAITH so just keep doing what you’re doing Oilers, maybe do it a little bit better, and we can come out of 2015 with our faint playoff hopes still alive. *whimpers*. 

FINALLY, WE FOUND OUT WHAT’S WRONG WITH JUSTIN SCHULTZ! So far, Justin has missed nine games with a mysterious “back” injury which nobody really knew anything about. On Monday, Schutz practiced with the team for the first time but it still sounds as though he won’t be joining the lineup any time soon as he is still recovering from a bulging disc in his back. Now I don’t know about you, but hearing about a bulging back disc just makes me grind my teeth. My dog had a dislodged disc, when I was younger, so that is the closest relation I have to Justin’s injury. My dog survived, so I expect Justin to make a full recovery. 

Klinkhammer and Korpikosi remain on the IR with undisclosed injuries. Laurie Korpikoski has already missed eight games after receiving a high hit from Matt Dumba a few weeks ago and does not have a return date yet. He practiced with the team on Monday as well so it sounds like he is close to returning. As for Rob Klinkhammer who also left the Minnesota game early with an apparent knee injury, there is no return date set for him.

Rumour has it that someone released the flu bug in the Oilers dressing room over the past week. I’m not saying it was another NHL team trying to sabotage our sub par record, and I’m definitely not saying it was the Calgary Flames, but there’s no way it was for lack of flu shots. RNH and Andrew Ference missed the last game against the Kings with an illness. Eberle, RNH, Ference, and Hendricks all missed practice on Monday as well for maintenance days. As confusing as this all sounds and was to keep track of, as of Tuesday everyone who was once sick, is back! Except for Gazdic. 

To ease everyone’s minds, everybody at Nation HQ has been healthy for the most part. The Oilers Flu Bug® hasn’t struck our dressing room yet, but I have had a case of the sneezes. With that said, this is my official prediction that by this time next week, Jeanshorts will be sick once again. I don’t mean to make him sick, but if history repeats itself, he will continue to complain about me sitting too close to him for the rest of the week. Then, by Monday or Tuesday, he will start to notice some symptoms. It will all, of course, be in his head. I will keep you guys posted. 

If you haven’t experienced the feeling you get in your head and ears while listening to our new Nation podcast, North By NorthGretz, now is your time to find out! Every Monday morning we release a new episode. We talk some hockey and play some games, it’s a lot of fun! It usually consists of Baggedmilk and Jeanshorts trying to make fun of me, but they’re not that good at it and usually embarrass themselves. 

Check out our third episode where we get into #ChipGate and the NHL goaltending equipment fiasco.