The Capilano Rehab Injury Report: Defence Surplus

Ah the injury report, we meet again. Remember in last week’s article when I mentioned that the injury pace has been much slower for the Oilers this year than it was last year? With that said, let’s welcome three more players to the injury report! *tugs collar*

The story of Mark Fayne: Plays two minutes of the home opener – tallies one assist – injures his leg – on the IR for six weeks – four minutes into his third game back, he takes himself out of the lineup for a leg injury, again.

I’m no doctor, but I can say that with 95% confidence, Mark Fayne re-injured his previous lower body injury in last night’s game against Buffalo. If you remember, we joked that Fayne originally hurt his leg by skating across the ice. Well, there is video evidence of Mark Fayne ACTUALLY re-hurting his leg skating across the ice. I saw it with my own eyes! Fayne skated around the net and was on his way across the ice for an offensive zone face off when all of a sudden, BAM! The band-aid they put on his leg from the old injury falls off, and Mark can no longer put any pressure on his leg. Fayne skates directly off the ice, and never returned to the game.

We don’t exactly know what happened yet, I assume we will hear an announcement today. My guess is a knee injury. It appeared he was trying to shake out his leg, and the inner doctor in me is saying that must mean it’s a meniscus/ligament issue. Come at me “real doctors” – let’s see what you have to say!

You know who was having a great bounce-back year? Darnell Nurse. The Oilers injury bug was obviously going to find him sooner or later so it might as well happen at the same time all our other defenceman are injured. We found out after the game against Winnipeg last weekend that Nurse will be out long term with a lower body injury. Seeing Darnell finish the game and having this news come out of the blue is as frustrating as it gets. 

Nurse has been seen walking around in a walking boot, and it is suspected that he broke his foot from blocking a shot. Sure it probably hurt, but this is a man’s game after all*, and Nurse probably didn’t want to take off his skate until the game is over. 

* THIS IS A JOKE. I AM JOKING. IT IS NOT A MAN’S GAME I WAS MAKING A FUNNY ABOUT PAT MAROON’S COMMENT. I DON’T ACTUALLY MEAN THIS. I AM REALLY JOKING.

What do you know, another defenceman injured? Eric Gryba’s injury is a mystery. There isn’t even a hunch out there on why or how he got hurt. The good news is that his current timeline is 5-7 days so we shouldn’t be much longer without Gryba. Like him or not, we need healthy defencemen right now. 

Part of me thinks that if Eric Gryba was slightly shaken up/day-to-day, they put him on the IR so they could continue rotating the two extra forwards into the lineup. Gryba had already been a healthy scratch for a couple games before his injury, so this could have been a way to create some competition up front while sitting Gryba.

Brandon Davidson still remains on the IR with his shoulder injury. The GOOD NEWS (haven’t said that in a while) is that Davy is travelling with the team on their current road trip, which likely means that he is extremely close to returning. In a perfect world, Davidson is good to go by Thursday! #PrayForDavidson #PrayForOilers

In case anyone forgot about Iiro, yes he is still on the team. He’s just been hiding on the injury reserve all season long. We already have two extra forwards on the roster right now, if Iiro comes back soon, we may have an issue on our hands. Thankfully we don’t have to worry about that right now, cause Pakarinen’s timeline is nowhere to be found. I would expect him to not return from his pre-season knee injury anytime soon. 

Do you think Andrew Ference even goes to the games anymore? If I’m Ference, I would probably get annoyed of watching the games in the press box and would rather just watch it at home with my family. He’s currently on week 60 of his never-ending injury. 

Maybe Andrew should pay a visit to our good friends over at the Capilano Rehab Centre! Visit their website or give them a call at (780) 466-1104.