The Edmonton Oilers are going to be without Connor McDavid for at least the rest of this road trip.

Head coach Kris Knoblauch said following the team’s 6-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets that McDavid is going back to Edmonton to be evaluated and that he’ll have an update about the captain’s status on Tuesday.

McDavid played just one shift in Monday’s loss before leaving the game with what the team is calling a lower-body injury. He was tripped while skating into the offensive zone and came off the ice in noticeable discomfort.

The Oilers won the first game of this road trip on Sunday in Detroit and dropped the second leg of the back-to-back on Monday in Columbus. They’ll travel to Nashville to face the Predators on Thursday and then they’ll play the Flames in Calgary on Sunday, but the team will be able to return home to Edmonton before the latter.

Knoblauch added that general manager Stan Bowman is with the team in Columbus and that the two of them will make a decision on who gets called up in McDavid’s place.

Top prospect Matthew Savoie, who Edmonton acquired from the Buffalo Sabres this summer, is tied for second on the Bakersfield Condors in scoring with four points through six games and could give the Oilers a reinforcement for their top-six forward group.

Another option is Noah Philp, who impressed during training camp when he was competing with Derek Ryan for the fourth-line centre role. The former University of Alberta Golden Bear has two goals and three points in six games for the Condors. He could play in Edmonton’s bottom-six and Adam Henrique could move up to one of the top two lines in McDavid’s absence.

This is a difficult blow for an Oilers team that just appeared to be coming out of an early-season funk. The team started off the 2024-25 campaign with three straight losses but got back to .500 with four wins in their next six. The loss to Columbus puts Edmonton at 4-5-1 on the year, an improvement on the 2-7-1 record they had after 10 games last season, but far from ideal.