It’s a busy Monday morning of housekeeping in Oil Country as Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch provided some of the most clarity so far about the status of his many players stuck in the infirmary.
The most notable of such is that defenceman Mattias Ekholm is expected to miss the first round of the playoffs with what’s believed to be a “serious injury.” The veteran returned to the ice last Friday night against the San Jose Sharks, falling twice in his first three shifts before leaving the game and not returning with what Knoblauch said is the same injury as before. His loss is significant, and the Oilers will now need to figure out how to fill his minutes.
“It looks like Mattias will be out for a while,” Knoblauch said Monday, “And he won’t be returning anytime soon.”
Other defencemen in Jake Walman and Troy Stecher are expected to be out of the lineup Monday against the Los Angeles Kings, and the team is set to recall defenceman Josh Brown from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, with him drawing in for the game. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is set to return to the Oilers lineup, while Connor McDavid will be out due to maintenance purposes.
“McDavid is not playing tonight — that’s precautionary, just with us playing three in four, back-to-back, we feel we have too much to lose there, so we’re playing that extremely safely,” said Knoblauch of McDavid.
Walman has been out of the lineup for the last three games with an undisclosed injury, while Stecher was shaken up in the Oilers’ 4-1 win Sunday over the Winnipeg Jets.
The good news, Knoblauch revealed, is that both Walman and Stecher, as well as Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman, who have been dealing with injuries of their own, will be ready for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs when they — once again — take on the Kings. Knoblauch said he’s “hopeful” Trent Frederic can play at the start of the playoffs, and while adding Evander Kane is a “very close,” the winger told Oilersnation’s Jason Gregor he feels ready to contribute.
“I’m confident I can help,” Kane said. “I’m very close to playing and if you ask me if I’ll be ready for Game 1, I’d say I played last year on one leg so how I feel today is much better.”
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.
