Follow @SMaloughney The misfortune of other teams might end up being a bit of luck for the Oilers. Yesterday the Ducks announced that Corey Perry would be out the next 5 months to repair meniscus and MCL injuries.
BREAKING: #NHLDucks Executive Vice President and General Manager Bob Murray said Corey Perry had surgery today to repair meniscus and MCL injuries.
— Anaheim Ducks (@AnaheimDucks) September 26, 2018
His recovery timetable is set for 20 weeks, or about five months.
Patrick Eaves and Ryan Kesler are both skating with the team but neither player has been cleared medically to play yet. Considering Kesler at one point thought he may not even play this season the team will surely take their time with him. This is a huge blow for the Ducks and as an Oiler fan I have never been a fan of his playstyle (read: cheating) I hope he makes a full recovery.
The team the Oilers play tonight have also had a string of injuries to deal with. The Arizona Coyotes are currently without Dylan Strome (upper body), Christian Dvorak (lower body), Jakob Chychrun (knee), Ryan Merkley (knee), and most recently Alex Galchenyuk was announced to be out week to week with a lower body injury.
The Sharks would be the only team I consider a lock for the playoffs with the Kings, Flames, Oilers, Coyotes, Ducks, and Golden Knights all feasibly fighting for the remaining spots. Long term injuries with any of these clubs will hurt their chances at playing games in May.
LINEUP
OILERS
RNH-McDavid-Rattie Lucic-Draisaitl-Yamamoto Rieder-Strome-Puljujarvi Caggiula-Brodziak-Aberg
Klefbom-Larsson Nurse-Benning Garrison-Bear
Koskinen Montoya COYOTES
Crouse-Keller-Cousins Grabner-Stepan-Archibald Burke-Pederson-Garland Helewka-Klima-Bunting OEL-Demers Connauton-Oesterle Mermis-Mayo Raanta Hill
Last game Garrison played fairly well and at this point it seems likely he will get a contract as a 7th defenceman. He has certainly shown more than Jerabek who has a 1 million dollar deal. The Oilers defence is unsurprisingly very suspect and I do believe we see a deal within the first month of the season.
As mentioned in my previous blog the Draisaitl line hasn’t found a way to click yet. They don’t need to have 4 point nights like McDavid but McLellan clearly wants to see more from this trio.
THINGS TO WATCH FOR 1) Draisaitl MIA. Yes his linemates are not as skilled as the ones he is used to but Draisaitl needs to be held accountable for his own play. Tonight Draisaitl needs to wake up and be engaged in the play. 2) Puljujarvi Keep On Keepin On. Despite his solid play Puljujarvi still finds himself on the third line much to the chagrin of others. Right now I think this is the best spot for Puljujarvi to play. He is playing with confidence. Let him continue to produce and find success here before immediately throwing him up the ladder. 3) Three Strikes You’re Out. Koskinen gets his third start tonight. The first game he was flat out bad. The second game a number of good goals were scored on him but at some point he simply needs to stop the puck. Another poor outing from Mikko tonight likely gives Montoya the inside track.