The news keeps getting worse for the struggling, embattled Edmonton Oilers.
One of the few hot hands they have in their lineup, winger Jack Roslovic, is out for the foreseeable future with an undisclosed injury while Kasperi Kapanen’s return has been pushed back as well.
“(Roslovic) will be out a couple of weeks, we’re not anticipating him back anytime soon,” head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “And Kapanen will be at least a week, maybe several weeks. We’re getting more information later, but he won’t be any time soon.”
And Jake Walman? He’s still nursing an ailment that already has kept him out two games. He also missed the first six games of the season.
Losing Roslovic is a killer. He’s the most effective player on the team right now with nine goals and five assists in his past 13 games. That’s more goals than anyone else on the team in that span. He’s the only player who is scoring consistently and he’s going to leave a massive hole in their lineup.
Roslovic blocked a shot against Dallas and, while Knoblauch said it’s not a broken bone, it’s obviously serious enough that he’s out of the picture for a long time.
Kapanen hasn’t played all season and was expecting to be back Saturday, but he injured himself in practice Thursday and is back on the injured list.
It’s hard to ignore the black cloud that seems to be following this team.
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“It’s unfortunate losing those guys, we were very optimistic about getting them back,” Knoblauch said of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Curtis Lazar, who will be good to go on Saturday in Seattle against the Kraken. “It was great news. Then you lose a couple of guys. But it is what it is, every team goes through injuries.
“We were going to add some new life and a little bit of a different dynamic with those players but we’re just going to have to find a way with what we have.”
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com