BLOG: McDavid, Draisaitl to miss a week with injuries & more updates from Friday

EDMONTON, AB – Head Coach Kris Knoblauch updated the status of several Oilers players following practice at the Downtown Community Arena on Friday afternoon, most notably that of captain Connor McDavid and leading scorer Leon Draisaitl.

Knoblauch said that both McDavid and Draisaitl are expected to be unavailable for Saturday’s meeting with the Seattle Kraken at Rogers Place and could miss around a week of time due to injury, leaving the Oilers without two of their superstars potentially until the start of the team's four-game road trip that begins Mar. 1 against the Vegas Golden Knights.

“Connor's got a doctor's appointment today just see how long it's going to be, and we're not anticipating him playing for tomorrow for sure,” Knoblauch said. “I would say day-to-day, maybe a week. We'll find out more today.”

“Same kind of timeline [for Draisaitl],” Knoblauch added. “Won't be back immediately. He'll be probably up to a week.”

McDavid was ruled out for the third period and overtime of Thursday’s 4-3 overtime defeat to the Winnipeg Jets after taking a cross-check to the midsection from defenceman Josh Morrissey late in the second period and looking to be in discomfort immediately after the play. The captain will undergo an MRI on Friday to further understand the extent of his injury and evaluate an appropriate timeline of recovery.

Draisaitl was deemed doubtful to play against the Jets from a collision he sustained with Utah defenceman Olli Määttä at the blueline during the middle frame of Edmonton’s 7-1 victory over the Hockey Club on Tuesday.

Despite playing through his ailment and finishing with 22:23 of ice time in the victory, seeing his 18-game point streak come to an end and sitting one goal away from reaching 50 for the season, the injury became more of a concern for the coaching staff the next day and will be enough to keep the German forward out for more than just Thursday's game.

“Our training staff was checking in with him regularly. Leon has played through a lot,” Knoblauch said. “There was talk about how he's doing and if he could go through it or should he be sitting out, and then the next day, they re-evaluated and figured out it was more than they anticipated.”

Coach Knoblauch said it’s important to preach caution at this stage of the season when it comes to injuries with the Stanley Cup Playoffs only 13 regular-season games away – much like how they were cautious with playing Draisaitl against Winnipeg on Thursday.

The benefits of having Edmonton’s two offensive leaders play through their injuries at this stage of the campaign will not outweigh the benefits of having them healthy for the playoffs, and it’s important to make sure they’re full healthy for the most important time of the season in April, May and June.

“Obviously, we have to be cognizant of what's ahead of us,” Knoblauch said. “The playoffs are very important, and pushing guys only to injure themselves even worse is not ideal. But even if it was Game 5 or 6, we wouldn't want to put somebody in a position where they're going to make themselves worse and have a nagging injury, so I think the schedule has something to do with it.

“Ultimately, it comes down to the medical staff saying when the player should return and how much time he should have off.”

Knoblauch added: “You saw it last year and the injuries that they played through, and you would think they would slow them down, but it doesn't. I think that's been the case for them in previous playoff runs and also for other players, but I think right now, we want to be 100 percent that they’re healthy going into the playoffs, and we certainly don't want to be pushing these guys.”

With the call-up of Derek Ryan from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors on Tuesday, the Oilers have 12 forwards available and won’t need to make a roster move to make up for the absence of McDavid and Draisaitl.

“We have our 12 forwards and right now, we can’t call up anybody unless it's on an emergency basis just with the salary cap,” Knoblauch said. “So right now, we have our players and we don't have the option right now to call anybody up.”

Forward Trent Frederic is still “at least another two weeks” from making his Oilers debut, and winger Evander Kane is progressing after skating on back-to-back days with the group as he trends toward potentially being an option for the Oilers in the playoffs.

Kane has missed the entire season after undergoing abdominal surgery in the summer and remains on Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR).

“He's a world-class athlete and a world class player,” Knoblauch said. “Last year, he battled through a lot of injuries. But now that the work has gone in, hopefully we he can be healthy and ready for us to play. Obviously, he could make a huge impact to our team game. It’s difficult not playing for the season, but you've also got a high-calibre player in Evander that might be able to help our team, which I would think that would be the case.”

Knoblauch did provide positive updates on goaltender Stuart Skinner and defenceman John Klingberg, who are both available to play against the Kraken on Saturday night.

Skinner was removed against the Jets with less than five minutes remaining in the third period after being ran into by forward Gabriel Vilardi and being pulled for concussion protocol. Goaltender Calvin Pickard came in for the final 6:10 of regulation and overtime.

Klingberg has missed the last seven games since suffering an injury in a Mar. 4 defeat to the Anaheim Ducks and could be reinserted into the lineup versus the Kraken if the coaching staff elects to change up their blueline, with the Oilers having eight defencemen on the roster.