Oilers confirm more awful news for Mattias Ekholm, update on all 9 injuries

It's brutal news for Ekholm, who appeared to suffer a serious injury minutes into his last game against San Jose. Ekholm went for a second medical opinion, which also must not have been good news.

It's a crushing blow to lose Ekholm for the entirety of the first round. He's arguably the Oilers best defenceman with his incredible two-way impact and effect on Evan Bouchard. The Oilers blue line is still deep, but losing Ekholm will be a major challenge.

Not only Ekholm, but the Oilers provided injury updates on every injured player right now - a total of 8 other injuries aside from Ekholm.

Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman have also been ruled out of the final game of the season, but are hopefully available for Game 1. Both players are dealing with undisclosed injuries, but were expected back for the last game of the year.

Connor McDavid will also miss tonight's game for precautionary reasons, but they will get Nugent-Hopkins back from illness.

Jake Walman getting back in the lineup for Game 1 will be crucial for the Oilers as well - especially with Ekholm out - and thankfully he'll be ready before the send of the year. On defence as well, Troy Stecher has been injured and Josh Brown is called up.

Evander Kane and Trent Frederic are both still hopeful for Game 1 of the playoffs, but it's clearly still undecided for both.

Injuries and health for the Oilers will be a major challenge for the team heading into the playoffs. The entire roster will have to pull together to endure another 4 gruelling rounds of playoff hockey.