It wasn’t long after the final buzzer of the Edmonton Oilers’ 1-0 loss Tuesday night against the Vegas Golden Knights that Drake Caggiula was packing for a flight.

But he wouldn’t be heading back to snowy Edmonton, as the Oilers assigned him to the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors, destined to catch a flight to Southern California, instead. Caggiula’s assignment all but clears the way for Zach Hyman to return from an undisclosed injury that’s kept him out of the lineup since Nov. 19th.

Caggiula, 30, has drawn in for seven games for the Oilers this season, scoring an assist and breaking even in five-on-five goal share, and will look to pickup where he left off in the AHL, having racked up five goals and nine points in 12 games this season.

Hyman, meanwhile, will be a welcome addition back to the lineup Thursday night against Columbus Blue Jackets, should he be able to play. While he’s struggled to produce offence like he has in the past scoring just three goals and eight points in 20 games, he’s still been around the action in big ways.

Despite missing five games, he still ranks second among Oilers players in individual expected goals and individual scoring chances, while having 46 high-danger scoring chances, seven more than the next closest Oiler. Hyman’s shot at a 5.9 percent rate this season, well below the 15 percent rate he has in his first three years in Edmonton. It’s reasonable to expect goals to start going in for him sooner rather than later, and that might be boosted by Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins finding their game.

Since his return from injury McDavid has racked up nine goals and 21 points in 12 games, while over that stretch Nugent-Hopkins has three goals and seven points.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist, making up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.

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