\u201cLeon is going to be on the ice this week, and I don\u2019t anticipate him playing any games in the regular season. And then playoffs, sometime in that first round, if, you know, if things go well,\u201d said Knoblauch.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not ruling Draisaitl out for Game 1 either.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a period of time that we anticipated him returning, and we said it was going to be right around the end of the regular season, start of playoffs. If he gets in that first game, that\u2019s great. He has not been on the ice yet. We anticipate he will be on the ice sometime this week. We\u2019ll get an indication of how that\u2019s going to go, but probably sometime in that first round.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Zach Hyman<\/a> did not travel with the team on this three-game road trip<\/a>, which kicks off against the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday. Hyman missed Saturday\u2019s game against Vegas due to an undisclosed injury, the same one which made him a game-time decision earlier against the Blackhawks.<\/p>\n \u201cI would think that he would play one, if not two, games before the end of the season. This week he\u2019s out, not playing,\u201d said Knoblauch.<\/p>\n Colton Dach<\/a> could become available soon as well. Knoblauch was asked about his status, but the coach replied that no lineup decisions have been made for Tuesday yet.<\/p>\n Regardless of who\u2019s available for each game, when the team is healthy, expect a rotation of players in and out of the lineup.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re always gonna have injuries. Guys are gonna be banged up,\u201d said Knoblauch.\u00a0\u201cWhat do you need going in from game to game? Maybe you need a little more intensity, a little more forechecking, physicality. Maybe you need a penalty killer. Whatever it is, there will be a rotation. We saw in the last two years of playoffs here, where guys are in and on the lineup, just on what the team needs at that time. So yes, this is an opportunity for them to really solidify and say, I deserve to be in that lineup for Game 1 in the playoffs.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He\u2019s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4.<\/p>\n The Nation Playoff Draft Party \u2014 Team Sign-Up Now Open![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775550453_564_image.png\"\/)
<\/a>Edmonton hockey fans \u2014 think you and your crew know playoff hockey? Prove it at the\u00a0Nation Playoff Draft Party\u00a0on\u00a0Friday, April 17th at the River Cree Resort & Casino.\u00a0Build your playoff roster, compete against other teams throughout the postseason, and battle for\u00a0$2,500 cash and Nation bragging rights.\u00a0Team entry is\u00a0$1,000 for groups of 8, which includes dinner and your first bevy. The night will be hosted by\u00a0Ryder & Lisa from The Sauce\u00a0and\u00a0Tyler & Liam from ON Everyday, so expect plenty of energy, competition, and chirps.\u00a0Spots are limited \u2014 sign your team up now at\u00a0nationgear.ca<\/a>.\u00a0All proceeds from the event support\u00a0KidSport Edmonton, helping ensure local kids can stay in the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oilers injury update: Draisaitl to skate this week, playoff start status uncertain The return of the Edmonton Oilers\u2018…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5125],"tags":[198,146,5300,5,4,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-545175","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-edmontonoilers","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-oilers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116362481462296838","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545175","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=545175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/508519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}