The playoffs are so close you can taste it.
For the Edmonton Oilers, that means it’s decision time. With so many players injured, it’s been hard to get a handle on their playoff lineup. They got some clarity on that front on Monday morning, as Kris Knoblauch issued a slew of injury updates after the morning skate. Buckle up, this one’s a doozy.
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The big one concerns defenseman Mattias Ekholm, who reaggravated his nagging injury on April 11th against Dallas. Knoblauch confirmed that Ekholm is ruled out for the first round of the playoffs and could be out for quite a while longer.
“Mattias will be out for a while, and he won’t be returning any time soon,” Knoblauch told the media. By all appearances, it seems Ekholm may not return at all during the playoffs.
The other news wasn’t quite so grim. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will return to the lineup on Monday against the Los Angeles Kings after missing the past three games with an illness, while Troy Stecher will be out after leaving Sunday’s game with an injury.
Connor McDavid, after picking up nine assists in three games since returning from injury, will also sit out on Monday for precautionary reasons.
“With us playing three games in four days and a back to back, we feel there’s too much to lose there, so we’re playing that extremely safely,” Knoblauch said on Monday.
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Everyone else–Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Jake Walman, and Trent Frederic–is officially day-to-day. Draisaitl and Walman are questionable for the final game of the regular season on Wednesday and ready for game one of the playoffs, while Hyman is likely in the same boat as a precautionary measure. Frederic, meanwhile, is questionable for the start of the playoffs as his timetable continues to get pushed back.
Finally came the big event: Evander Kane’s first media availability since the beginning of training camp. Kane, who’s been skating with the team for weeks now, seems ready to go for sometime in the first round, which will be his first game action since game two of the Stanley Cup Final.
“I’m really excited to get going here,” Kane said. “As soon as we get to 100%, which should be pretty soon.”
Kane also opened up about his recovery journey, describing the January knee surgery that kept him out for longer than expected. Kane’s absence was originally due to a double hip adductor surgery he underwent in September.
“It was very weird. Probably ten days after surgery, I just felt [my knee] was stuck, it was sticking every day,” Kane said on Monday. “So we got an MRI, and there was a benign mass kind of wrapped around my ACL and PCL, and we were able to get that removed.”
The Oilers play against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night and close out their regular season on Wednesday in San Jose. The Stanley Cup Playoffs start on Saturday, April 19th.
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