Injury Notes: McDavid, Hischier, McCabe

As both the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames take the ice at Commonwealth Stadium in Alberta today for practice in preparation for the 2023 Heritage Classic tomorrow evening, several reports are coming out of the Oilers practice that captain Connor McDavid has joined his teammates on the ice (X Link). There is growing excitement throughout Edmonton that McDavid will be in the Heritage Classic tomorrow, after missing the last two games.

The injury status of McDavid appears to be a bit complicated, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet had mentioned he was extremely pessimistic that McDavid would be available for the Heritage Classic, given the nature of his injury and the atypical playing conditions on an outdoor rink. Given the importance of McDavid to the Oilers and the NHL in general, it is more than unlikely that Edmonton is trying to rush McDavid back, but he may have healed quicker than previously thought.

The team could certainly use him back on the ice regardless of whether it is the Heritage Classic or not, as the Oilers have still only managed one win in their first seven games to start the regular season. If the team is set to take a step in the right direction on the season, there is no better team to do it against than their in-province rival.

Other injury notes:

•  In last night’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils captain, Nico Hischier, was not in attendance on the bench to start the second period, after receiving a hit to the head from Sabres’ defenseman, Connor Clifton, earning him a match penalty for the rest of the game. Hischier would eventually come back to the game for New Jersey, but would not play a lot of minutes from then on out. Today, team reporter for the team, Amanda Stein, is reporting that Hischier will not be in the lineup tomorrow night, suffering an upper-body injury as a result of the penalty.
• Although Toronto Maple Leafs’ defenseman, Jake McCabe, will not be on the ice with the team in their next upcoming matchup against the Nashville Predators due to a groin injury, Toronto apparently gathered very positive results from McCabe’s MRI report. David Alter of The Hockey News reports that McCabe won’t be out of the lineup ’too long’, and the MRI results were a best-case scenario for both the player and the team.