{"id":509806,"date":"2026-03-18T16:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/509806\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T16:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:14:13","slug":"edmonton-oilers-general-manager-stan-bowman-optimistic-leon-draisaitl-can-return-for-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/509806\/","title":{"rendered":"Edmonton Oilers general manager Stan Bowman \u2018optimistic\u2019 Leon Draisaitl can return for playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Edmonton Oilers<\/a> president and general manager Stan Bowman is hopeful that star forward Leon Draisaitl<\/a> can return to the ice for the NHL playoffs.<\/p>\n

The German centre suffered a lower-body injury on a hit from Nashville Predators<\/a> forward Ozzy Wiesblatt<\/a> during the first period of Edmonton\u2019s 3-1 win on Sunday.<\/p>\n

He went to the locker room, returned for one shift before the end of the period, but was not on the bench to start the second.<\/p>\n

\u201c[I\u2019m] optimistic,\u201d Bowman said to TSN\u2019s Gino Reda about a potential return for the playoffs. \u201cIt\u2019s only been a couple of days here. We\u2019ll have to see how well he responds to the treatment. The timeline the [doctors] gave was based on normally how long these injuries take to heal, and I don\u2019t have any reason to doubt that.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the postseason scheduled to begin the weekend of April 18-19, the injury will keep the 30-year-old in the press box for at least a month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctors make that decision,\u201d Bowman said on the timeline for a return. \u201cHe had some imaging done and based on the injury he has, that\u2019s the timeline. I just listen to what they say. That\u2019s what they do for a living and they know it well.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to be in the rehab protocol. He plays through pain, but you need to let it heal at the same time. \u2026We\u2019re obviously going to miss him but we also have to focus on the players that are healthy and able to play right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Draisaitl has 35 goals and 62 assists over 65 games for the Oilers this season.<\/p>\n

Picked third overall by Edmonton in the 2014 draft, Draisaitl has been a key part of the team that played in back-to-back Stanley Cup finals the last two seasons.<\/p>\n

He had 110 points in the 2019-20 season, the most across the NHL, a performance that earned him both the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP and the Ted Lindsay<\/a> Award, handed out annually to the player voted most outstanding by other members of the NHL players\u2019 association.<\/p>\n

During the 2024-25 campaign, he led the league in goals with 52.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Edmonton Oilers president and general manager Stan Bowman is hopeful that star forward Leon Draisaitl can return to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5125],"tags":[198,146,32610,5300,5,34658,4,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-509806","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton-oilers","8":"tag-edmonton","9":"tag-edmonton-oilers","10":"tag-edmonton-oilers-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-22","11":"tag-edmontonoilers","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-leon-draisaitl-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8477934","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-oilers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116251070641746702","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}