According to the Edmonton Oilers, Leon Draisaitl will be kept out of tomorrow night’s game against the Senators due to an eye injury and alleged concussion. 

When news came out on Monday that Draisaitl had an eye injury, all I could think about was when or where it happened? Unless I’m mistaken, Drai finished Monday’s game against the Jets and there wasn’t any indication that he had an eye problem. Regardless of what happened to cause the eye injury, losing Leon Draisaitl for any length of time would be a massive blow for the Oilers. It goes without saying that Draisaitl is a key piece to the Oilers offence and having him out can only hurt the team’s chances of winning. I just hope this doesn’t turn into some kind of Brian Berard kind of scenario, but it’s a little bit early to be that pessimistic.

On the bright side (I could be reaching here), having Draisaitl miss a game (or two at most RIGHT?!) will give a guy like Yamamoto a chance to show why he earned a roster spot out of training camp. Having him play in the top six will give him a chance to show what he can do in an offensive role rather than trying to bang and crash on the fourth line. That said, losing Draisaitl leaves a massive gap in the Oilers top six and it will be interesting to see how the team responds to his absence. The Oilers have undoubtedly struggled in their past two outing and being without one of the team’s stars is a blow that they certainly didn’t need at this point (or ever).

In the end, all we can hope is that this eye injury/concussion is not a long term thing and that the number of games he misses stays at one. We wait.