After last night’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets in overtime, the Edmonton Oilers have even more bad news coming down the pipeline. In an update this afternoon, the team has announced that the captain of the team, Connor McDavid, will miss the next one to two weeks with an upper-body injury.
As one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup this season, the Oilers have been one of the most disappointing teams to start the 2023-24 NHL season. In five games played, including the loss to Winnipeg last night, the Oilers are the owners of a 1-3-1 record, good for 29th in the league standings as things currently stand.
Nevertheless, the team still has 77 games to correct the dismal start, but the loss of McDavid is about as substantial as possible. Even after only recording one win in the first five games, it is in spite of McDavid getting off to another solid start. In the first handful of games to start the season, McDavid has averaged just over 20 minutes of ice time per night, scoring two goals and six assists, which is good for 12th in the league in scoring to start the year. 
Thankfully for the Oilers, seeing McDavid on the injured reserve has not been a common occurrence during his career in the NHL, he has seemingly only missed time due to injury during his rookie season in 2015-16, as well as towards the end of the 2019-20 season.
In the meantime, even without the injury to McDavid, the Oilers need a wake-up call to most of their team in the early part of the season. Aside from the usual suspects of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard, and Zach Hyman, the depth in Edmonton has failed to make a positive on the club so far this season.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Poor guy. Not cuz he’s injured but cuz he’s had to waste his career in Edmonton
Idiot
Yes you are
My apologies. With that response i now know you’re 6
Calling someone an idiot and I’m 6? Lol
If you haven’t been to Edmonton I don’t think you can judge it. This whole narrative that the city sucks and no one wants to be there has grown old.
Lucic chose when he was a FA. Kane chose to sign there after SJ terminated his contract. Hyman chose Edmonton when he was a FA. RNH just signed an extension at a discount to stay (yes 5.125 is a discount for what he brings). Ekholm moved his family and chose to stay there in the offseason. Penner and Vanek both signed offer sheets to be there, Vanek’s was matched Penner’s was not.
Gone are the days of Michael Nylander changing his mind and signing elsewhere. Pronger demanding a trade out. And Heatley refusing to waive his NTC.
Is it cold in winter? Sure but so is Winnipeg, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa in January. But it also has a brand new state of the art arena with a revitalized downtown core and is an hour away from the mountains.
Like I opened with, people who haven’t even been there can’t knock it. As the old saying goes, don’t knock it til you’ve tried it.
Well I live in Edmonton. Nothing exciting about it
I’d be willing to bet that you do not. I’d up that bet to you have never been to Alberta.
Okay cool. Let me know where you’re sending me my money.
In what universe are the Oilers a favourite to win the Stanley Cup? They have a backup as their starting goalie and guy that realistically shouldn’t be on a roster after training camp. The latter of the two, Skinner, has a .814 sv% on the season right now. You could pull a goalie out of the ECHL and get better numbers.
The Oilers got some elite talent up front, but nothing to stop the pucks from getting in their own net. And this has been the story for over a decade at this point.
They get the benefit of playing in the West which is weak sauce. If they can beat Dallas and Vegas, they’re in. By that point the east would have smashed each other to bits over the first 21 games.
Agreed, how are they always labeled as “favorites”? They have zero defense and play zero defense. It seems like they blow more leads than anyone (just basing on observation, stats may prove me wrong).
It feels like the same with Toronto. They’re always the favorites and never deliver on anything. I think this is a significant reason why I don’t like the Leafs and it’s the same with the Oilers. Stop calling them favorites, they’ve done absolutely nothing to earn it.
True. They are no match for Vegas or Colorado.
“If?” Edmonton is not in the same class of a VGK or Colorado.
In the case of Toronto, that’s a team that, on paper, should be very good. And they’ve been excellent in the regular season. If they did win the Cup this year, I don’t think that would be a huge surprise. But I also think that the absolutely insane media pressure those players are constantly under causes them to choke in the playoffs. It’s beyond toxic, and I don’t think any other NHL city has it so bad. Outside of maybe New York and Montreal.
I remain utterly stupified that a few years back they had the chance to take the top goalie prospect in years but instead traded down to take a meh winger instead.
Utterly stupified.
I think they keep chasing the Wayne Gretzky merchandise machine and have no intention of actually icing a winning hockey team.
And where is that goalie prospect now? Would it actually improve their team?
Have you watched a game involving the Oilers lately? There is literally 2 Gretzky jerseys worn per game. The rest are McDavid and Draisaitl jerseys.
No that’s my point. What I’m trying to say is that they want to replicate the Wayne Gretzky merchandise/fandom stuff with McDavid and Draisaitl.
That goalie is still the top goalie prospect and will be up from the AHL this year or next.
And then MAYBE the Oilers could have won something before the end of 97’s contract, but instead will be in the exact same spot they were in when they passed on Wallstedt…except with a mediocre wing prospect in tow.
SO short sighted.
SO very short sighted.
Wallstedt wasn’t even the top G prospect in that draft. Cossa was the big get. And Wallstedt isn’t the top G prospect currently. Wolf and Askarov are. And at the time they had Skinner as an up and coming top 5 prospect in their system. And G isn’t their main issue, team defense is.