Injuries are the name of the game for the Edmonton Oilers these days. It’s been one step forward and two steps back with the news about Connor McDavid, Justin Schultz, and Nail Yakupov.
The Oilers are a depleted squad and the game against the Hurricanes didn’t help them out as a freak incident resulted in a high ankle sprain for Nail Yakupov. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a play like it before, or at least not one that resulted in an injury to the player.
Right off the faceoff the linesman was tripped by a Hurricane stick, as he fell he instinctively reached out and grabbed Yakupov up high by his shoulder and down low by the base of his sweater. Yakupov was skating the other direction trying to accelerate as he was yanked backwards and down by the official. In addition to that, the linesman landed on top of Yak’s leg in an awkward position.
I recognize the linesman’s instincts/reflexes took over in a split second and it was all over before you could blink an eye. However, I feel pretty strongly that officials should never put the athletes in danger, even if it means they have to bruise their tailbone falling down. I’ve never been an NHL referee or linesman so I can’t tell you what they’ve been taught to do in situations where they lose balance or could themselves be hurt. All I can do is say that I don’t watch hockey to see the linesmen and teams play to win games. Today the Oilers have one less athlete to sell games and help them win.
The news was that the injury wasn’t *serious* and he should be ready to play in 2-4 weeks. Ultimately that’s a positive because you could have told me broken ankle, torn Achilles, or a knee tendon after the injury and I would have believed you. A sprained ankle isn’t the worst.
The better news came from Mark Spector who reported that McDavid is weeks ahead of schedule in his healing/rehab. The original Oiler timeline was for some time in March and Spector now forecasts a mid January return.
Let’s keep in mind that a March return date was as unrealistic as Chiarelli’s original point forecast for McDavid (82GP, 20-20-40). I don’t think anyone truly believed that he would be gone that long, but the team set a pessimistic date likely to keep the pressure off Connor.
As per Spector, McDavid has been lifting weights and training, although not skating. I’m not sure if the “not skating… aspect of this should be worrisome. It’s a broken clavicle not a broken femur. I’m pretty sure he hasn’t forgotten how to skate. If he can lift weights then there probably isn’t anything holding him back from hitting the ice except protocol.
As for the final injury update, Justin Schultz should be returning to the club for the Pittsburgh game tomorrow. I have absolutely no idea how this is going to play out, but we don’t have to wait long to find out. I think it would be perfectly fine to take Gryba out of the lineup and insert Schultz directly into his place.
Schultz started the year playing more assertively in his own zone, but I thought he was slipping back to his old self a little bit. In any case, I think we’ve seen a better Klefbom without Schultz than with him. He’s more free to use his own offensive ability when he doesn’t have to be the defensively responsible one in the pair.
I would love to see Schultz eased back into the lineup in that 3rd pairing and have to earn his ice time and PP minutes with good play. That’s just me though. He could be playing 25 minutes a night as soon as Saturday.
LINEUP
The Oilers recalled Jujhar Khaira to take Yakupov’s roster spot. Cam Talbot is getting the start. Based on the practice lines from yesterday there has been some mixing of the lines.
Hall Draisaitl Eberle Korpikoski RNH Purcell Pouliot Letestu Hendricks Gazdic Lander Pakarinen
Klefbom Fayne Nurse Sekera Davidson Gryba
Talbot
OILERS KEYS TO THE GAME
1) Hall & Ebs. The duo of Hall and Ebs looks to be reunited after a little time apart. It looks like the Oilers are loading up that top line in the face of scoring woes in the last 2 games. Two games hardly qualifies as a slump, especially since Hall had many chances in both games, but anything to jump the energy level a bit after starting the road trip with 2 losses is welcome.
2) Talbot Gets Right. He has had more than enough time to figure out what was missing from his game. He’s rocking a Scrivensesque .890 save percentage after starting the season quite well. His last appearance was 2 weeks ago and he had 5 straight appearances with less than a .900 sv%. He needs to re-establish himself as a reliable option for the Oilers. This is a contract year and he’s lost the starter job to an unheralded backup who came over from Europe.
3) Not Your Dad’s Red Wings. The Detroit Red Wings are finally deteriorating. They had a spectacular run at or near the top of the class. Their demise has been predicted and dodged for many years, but it looks like the decline is real. The roster doesn’t have that same star appeal. The familiar names are all getting grey in the beard. The results in the underlying metrics are falling away. The Red Wings are 24th in Corsi For percentage at 48.3%. A year ago they were 15th. In the lockout shortened year they were 7th. Their goaltending is really hiding the fact that this is a team struggling to score goals and generate shots.
Puck drops tonight at 5:30 PM Mountain Time on Sportsnet West. Get Better, Connor!
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