Oilers superstar Connor McDavid will miss “at least a couple of weeks” with the lower-body injury he sustained Monday against the Blue Jackets, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. It’s not expected to be an overly long-term absence, though, implying they’ve avoided the worst-case scenario of a left foot or lower-leg fracture. The team later confirmed it was an ankle injury and said he’ll be out for two to three weeks.
The Oilers haven’t yet placed McDavid on injured reserve, although with him safely ruled out for the next five days, there’s nothing stopping them from doing so. They had two open roster spots at the time of his injury, which they filled yesterday with the recalls of forwards Drake Caggiula and Noah Philp from AHL Bakersfield. They’re now at a full roster with ample cap flexibility thanks to Evander Kane’s LTIR placement but they could move McDavid to IR to open up another roster spot if necessary.
Still, any McDavid absence isn’t welcome news for Edmonton. They’re on their seemingly yearly tradition of underwhelming starts before going on a late-November or December tear. After being trounced 6-1 by Columbus earlier this week, they’re back below .500 with a 4-5-1 record, and their -13 goal differential is third-worst in the league, ahead of only the Penguins and Sharks. McDavid was caught in the mire, too, off to a slow start by his standards with three goals and 10 points in 10 games. He was still his usual dominant self in possession play, though, with the Oilers controlling 62.8% of shot attempts with McDavid on the ice at even strength.
A two-week timeline from today, which is likely the best-case scenario as outlined by Friedman, puts his earliest potential return on Nov. 14 against the Predators. The Oilers have six games between now and then. In the meantime, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is projected to shift from wing to center on the first line with Zach Hyman, while Jeff Skinner will move up from a middle-six role to ride shotgun with that pair.
2-3 weeks of Oiler loses, when Conner comes back trade Drai for a #2C and 3-4 D and a pick!
learn to spell ‘losses’ and ‘Connor’
You forgot to capitalize “Learn”, and no period to end your sentence. I’ll let it slide that you didn’t include a comma after “losses”. YW
@Johnny Z — Bad news, there. Leon has an NMC, so he won’t be going anywhere. That “2-3 weeks of losses” may be way too close to true if the team doesn’t collectively show a stiff upper lip and a reinforced spine.
Ankle injuries can be nagging things. He might be back in three weeks, but how close to 100% is he going to be?
The Flyers get their first round pick in 2025 but top twelve protected…. 2-3 weeks of losing helps that pick. But certainly don’t want a better pick at the expense of one of the top three players in the league.
That Hyman contract aged quickly. Only 4 more years left