According to Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, Scottie Upshall failed his medical with the Oilers today as a result of a knee injury. Spector further explained that while failing the medical does not necessarily negate Upshall’s PTO, it does certainly put his opportunity with the Oilers in serious jeopardy. 

After signing a PTO in mid-August, Scottie Upshall was coming into Edmonton with a legitimate chance of cracking the roster, but those days are in serious doubt now that he failed his medical today. While bombing the physical doesn’t automatically end Upshall’s PTO, it did reveal a knee injury that is going to keep him on the shelf for the majority if not all of training camp. I don’t think I have to explain to anybody reading this that missing training camp while on a professional tryout isn’t exactly the best way to make the team, but with that said I suppose that anything can happen.

There are only 24 days between now and the season opener against the Devils (get your Season Opener Party tickets btw), and missing weeks of pre-season with a bunged up knee doesn’t exactly bode well for Upshall. But who knows, the rotund madame has not yet sung and no one from the Oilers has yet to say that Upshall is out, so we’ll just have to see what happens as the 2018-19 pre-season rolls out. As we all know, the Oilers are gagging for depth on the wings so maybe Upshall’s window is still open, though, as Spector mentions in his tweet, it wouldn’t exactly be surprising if the spot that Upshall possibly had a chance at just gets snapped up by someone else like maybe Alex Chiasson.

With the Oilers set to kick off the preseason on Monday night against the Flames, there isn’t much time to waste on anything aside from getting the Oilers ready for battle, and that’s real a bummer for a guy like Upshall that could have possibly provided some veteran leadership and PK assistance for a team that needs both. Unfortunately, at least for the time being, Upshall won’t be eligible to participate in training camp and that alone puts him way behind the rest of the guys that are vying for his place in the lineup, but, as I mentioned earlier, stranger things have happened so we’ll have to just wait and see how this story plays out.

In 63 games with the St. Louis Blues last season, the 34-year-old Upshall scored seven goals and 12 assists for 19 points, and averaged 10:51 of ice per night with 9:27 of that coming at even strength. What do you guys think?