Edmonton Oilers Injury Update: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins placed on injured reserve

The Edmonton Oilers have placed forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the injured reserve, the club announced Thursday.

The versatile center was injured last Saturday against the Flordia Panthers in the first period when Cats forward Ryan Lomberg hit Nugent-Hopkins into the boards.

It was an awkward collision that saw the Oilers forward hit the wall almost sideways, and he was clearly in some discomfort. He’s missed two games since, and returned to Edmonton for further evaluation.

While the injury hasn’t been disclosed by the team, Dr. Harjas Grewal, a University of Manitoba Family Medicine Resident who tweets about NHL injuries, speculated Nugent-Hopkins may have suffered a separated shoulder.

He had just begun to come into his own under new head coach Jay Woodcroft after being placed in the middle on the Oilers third line. He was flanked by Warren Foegele and Derek Ryan, and the trio was generating tons of offence. Losing Nugent-Hopkins for any period of time is far from ideal for a banged up Oilers club.

Now in his 11th year of NHL action, Nugent-Hopkins has appeared in 45 games for the Oilers this year scoring seven goals and 37 points.

Edmonton made one other move activating forward Kyle Turris off the injured reserve. He has been working through some back issues. He’s played in 22 games this year for the Oilers scoring one goal and four points.