Capilano Rehab Centre Injury Report – November 3, 2015

Buckle your seat belts, citizens! The Oilers have had a very busy week with players being dragged on and off the IR and I’m here to break it down for you. Having a large group of players on the IR at the same time makes for a jumbled mess when guys start to get healthy again. Chiarelli needs to think about making some decisions on who to send back down and who deserves a spot on the team. 

The countdown is on until Jordan Eberle returns to the lineup! If you haven’t heard yet, Eberle was injured in the pre-season and has been out since with a shoulder injury. Last week, he was put on the long term injury reserve which made me panic at first. What I first thought was the end of the world, changed quickly as I found out that it was strictly for salary cap reasons, and not because there was a set back with his shoulder.

Ebs is so close to coming back it makes me restless just talking about it. His face was plastered all over Edmonton on Saturday night during the BOA thanks to the ATB promo. If you didn’t get an Eberle face you definitely missed out on some fun selfie opportunities. A few of us spent the night at the Pint Downtown watching the game; Jeanshorts, Baggedmilk, and I made sure everyone in that bar had a minimum of three Eberle faces in their possession. I do apologize to whoever had to clean up the Pint that night because I’m sure not everybody took their faces home with them. 

Eberle has been skating with the Oilers in practices and is already getting some power play time. The big question for me is, now that Draisaitl is lighting it up on the first line, where is Eberle going to fit in if he comes back soon? I don’t think it’s going to matter where he plays as long our love beloved #ConYak aren’t separated. Ebs is eager to begin his season and will light it up wherever, and whoever he plays with. 

As of a couple days ago, Griffin Reinhart was deemed healthy enough to play as he was taken off the IR. This move is bittersweet as it’s great we have more options and more healthy bodies, but how about our boy Nurse? Once Schultz gets healthy again, we will have nine defensemen. Is Nurse going to be shipped back to Bakersfield? As of now the Oilers are forging on with eight D-men with Fayne and Ference scratched for tonight’s game against Philly. Last week, we did not know a lot of information on Justin Schultz’s injury. With that being said, we still don’t know a lot. However we do know that his injury is back related, and is expected to be out for 2-4 weeks.  

I think the most exciting news of today’s injury report is that Hendricks is back!! Everyone get excited! Today he was taken off the IR and was put on the third line in practice with Letestu and Purcell. Even though Hendricks isn’t the most productive player on the ice, I am pumped that he is back! I’m sure he was just dying to get back on the ice and I can almost guarantee that he will not be afraid to block any shots again tonight. That’s just what kind of guy he is. 

With Hendricks being taken off the IR today, Korpikoski got cycled right on to the IR. Korpi left the Minnesota game after a high hit from Matt Dumba. Even if you are not an Oilers fan, I think it is fair to say that the OIlers have not had any luck with the Referees in the past couple weeks. I won’t get into the multiple disallowed goals, but take a look at this hit and decide for yourself if it warrants a penalty or not. In case you didn’t know, there was no call on the play. Korpikoski has missed two games since and was just today been put on the IR with an undisclosed injury. One can only imagine that it is a concussion.

Is everyone hanging in there? Klinkhammer is the final Oiler currently on the IR. Klinkhammer also left the Minnesota game early with an apparent knee injury. He has not played since. Rob being put on the IR is what set off a chain of call ups and send downs. On October 28, the Oilers recalled LaLeggia and Pitlick after putting Klink on the IR. This moved confused the hell out of everybody, along with the movement of Eberle to the LTIR. Everything worked out in the end though as LaLeggia and Pitlick got sent down no more than an hour later, and Draisaitl got called up. We all know what Draisaitl did next, recording five points in two games.