Don’t expect Leon Draisaitl back for the start of the playoffs.
While there was hope that Edmonton’s second-leading scorer would be ready to go for Game 1 of the first round, that might be a little optimistic.
Draisaitl, who’s been out since injuring his knee March 15 against Nashville, will return to the ice this week to begin his road back, but it is a long, careful process that head coach Kris Knoblauch doesn’t think will be fast enough to get him into the mix for the Oilers opening round series.
“I don’t anticipate him playing any games in the regular season,” said Knoblauch. “And in the playoffs, sometime in the first round if things go well.”
Not Game 1?
“I’m not ruling that out, but I would anticipate sometime in the first (round),” said Knoblauch, adding the initial prognosis called from some time in mid to late April, and they’re sticking with that.
The Oilers wrap up the regular season April 16, a Thursday, and the post season would be a few days later, likely the Saturday.
“There is a period of time we anticipated him returning and we said it was going to be right around the end of the regular season and start of the playoffs,” said Knoblauch. “If he gets in that first game, great, but he has not been on the ice yet.
“He’ll be on the ice sometime this week and we’ll have an indication of how that’s going to go, but it’ll probably be sometime in that first round.”
As for Hyman, Knoblach hopes he can make it back for one of Edmonton’s last two games of the season, but that’s also an estimate at this point.
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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