Oilers coach gives questionable injury update on Jake Walman

The Oilers scratched Jake Walman at the last minute before the game, and also placed John Klingberg on LTIR which will give them some salary cap relief.

After the game, Coach Kris Knoblauch confirmed that Walman wasn't being held out for rest, but he is considered day-to-day with a minor injury.

The frustrating point with this injury update is that it's frankly hard to believe at this time of year. Walman's issue may be much more significant, or it could be a near non-issue.

The Oilers have been giving extremely inaccurate and vague injury timelines with their recent slew of injuries to McDavid, Draisaitl, Ekholm, Skinner, John Klingberg, Trent Frederic, Evander Kane, and now Jake Walman. The list is getting ridiculous.

Just yesterday, Coach Knoblauch said at practice that McDavid could be a week away from playing, and then 8 hours later he was in the lineup.

Leon Draisaitl also returned early from his injury, just to suffer another problem right after returning. Trent Frederic re-injured himself 6 seconds into his Oilers debut.

With such little information on these Oilers injuries and when it's so consistently turns out to be wrong, it's hard to project return dates for any player or their actual health status. In particular, Mattias Ekholm seems to be dealing with some major nagging problem going back months that's affecting his play.

What's clear is the Oilers have some significant injury problems right now. The team seems to not be concerned that all players will be available in the playoffs.

So when Coach Knoblauch says Walman is now day-to-day after a game-time scratch that forced the Oilers to play with 5 defenceman, it's a bit of a questionable update.