Maroon & Yakupov Day-To-Day With Lower Body Injuries

I’m not saying that this is another edition of Chris The Intern’s cursed, weekly injury report, but I’m not not saying that either. I am just here to inform you fine citizens, that Pat Maroon’s leg did not fall off after that scary incident on Wednesday night, and that all will be back to normal soon enough!

The last two days of waiting for news on Maroon’s injury brought back too many painful memories from last year. Especially cause it was an injury to a man who worked his butt off all summer to come back to training camp 25 pounds lighter, to keep up with the evolving speed of the game. 

I apologize to everyone who hasn’t seen a clip of Maroon’s hit, as apparently, it is nowhere on the internet to be found (prove me wrong, I dare you). Near the end of the Canucks game on Wednesday night, Maroon took a fairly innocent looking hit from a defenceman in the corner who fell awkwardly on top of him. Maroon, who’s not known to show any pain on the ice was grimacing pretty hard as he limped off the ice. 

Thankfully this morning, Todd McLellan was the bearer of good news, telling the media that Maroon’s injury was not as bad as expected and that he’s out short-term with a lower body injury. Maroon will likely be on the opening night roster come October 12th, and none of his cardio exercises from the summer will have gone to waste. 

Nail Yakupov, on the other hand, was pulled out of Wednesday’s lineup at the last minute with no real reason given. Since it’s pre-season, it’s pretty common for players to bounce in and out of game rosters, so I didn’t question this move too much. However in McLellan’s media chat today, he revealed that Yakupov is also day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Yakupov, who’s still looking to earn trust from his coaching staff and fans, is still in the books to play this Sunday against Los Angeles. 

What we learned from last year is that Peter Chiarelli and Todd McLellan keep their injury news hush hush, and keep all of OilersNation on the edge of their seats. With that said, I”m not surprised we haven’t been told any more information on these two injuries. All we know, (and in this case, need to know) is that nothing regarding the Oilers regular season roster should be affected. This is very odd for me cause I’m not used to giving “good” injury news.