Pacific Notes: McDavid, Demko, Forbort

There’s growing optimism within the Edmonton Oilers organization that captain Connor McDavid could return sooner than expected. Tom Gazzola of Edmonton Sports Talk reported video of McDavid skating on his injured ankle earlier this morning adding he hasn’t ruled out playing this upcoming weekend.

The Oilers originally believed McDavid would miss two to three weeks with an ankle injury but two weeks may be the maximum. The fact that McDavid is already back skating on the ice is a positive step in the right direction regarding his recovery timeline.

McDavid hasn’t played since Edmonton’s blowout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 28th. The Oilers have done as well as possible in his absence securing wins against the Nashville Predators and Calgary Flames but have two difficult games this week against the New Jersey Devils and Vegas Golden Knights. Should McDavid return this weekend in the Oilers’ contest against the Vancouver Canucks he will have only missed a total of four contests.

Other Pacific notes:

• Another Pacific Division team with positive news on the injury front is the Canucks. The Athletic’s Rick Dhaliwal reported earlier that goaltender Thatcher Demko is on the last step before being medically cleared to practice although his timeline is still up in the air. Vancouver could certainly use a reinforcement in the crease. Free agency pickup Kevin Lankinen has held down the fort with a .919 save percentage through seven starts but backup netminder Arturs Silovs has struggled to a .797 SV% mark in three.
• Staying in Vancouver, Harman Dayal of The Athletic reported defenseman Derek Forbort got shaken up during a practice drill and left early. Dayal noted that Forbort appeared to favor a leg as he left the ice but the team didn’t update his status after the practice. If Forbort is unavailable in tomorrow night’s action against the Anaheim Ducks expect one of Vincent Desharnais or Noah Juulsen to suit up on the bottom pairing.