Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl gets shaky injury update as fans await news of playoff status originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Edmonton Oilers would love some good news.
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But right now, the Leon Draisaitl injury updates are a bit more shaky than would be ideal with the playoffs just around the corner.
Draisaitl has already been ruled out for the rest of the regular season.
Now, it sounds like he could miss playoff action, too.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch shared the latest news with reporters on Monday.
“I don’t anticipate him playing any games in the regular season. And then playoffs, (he’ll play) sometime in that first round if things go well,” Knoblauch said. “If he gets in that first game, that’s great. He has not been on the ice yet. We anticipate he’ll be on the ice sometime this week. We’ll have an indication of how that’s gonna go. Probably sometime in that first round.”
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That “probably sometime” in regards to the first round is the kind of sentence that has left the door wide open to various possibilities.
It leaves a chance that Draisaitl doesn’t even make it back for the opening round — and without him, the Oilers could be in trouble.
It also suggests, though, that Draisaitl could be back early in the first round if things go well.
He’s out with a lower-body injury that he sustained on March 15.
The last Oilers game of the regular season is on April 16, and technically, Knoblauch’s comments above didn’t even officially rule Draisaitl out for that, even though a previous Oilers announcement already did.
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At this point, the Oilers simply need Draisaitl back on the ice for the playoffs at something resembling his normal ability. Without him, Edmonton becomes even more one-dimensional, capable of scoring with Connor McDavid on the ice but not much without him.
Draisaitl adds a massive threat on another line, or a partner on the power play. And the Oilers will be hoping healing comes sooner rather than later.
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