Moments ago at Oilers practice today, coach Knoblauch revealed that Adam Henrique will be unavailable for tonight's game due to an injury. In his place, Connor Brown will enter the lineup.
Henrique suffered an injury to his leg in the last game against the Los Angeles Kings, and has been sparsely participating in practice since then. Henrique did battle through to play in game 2 against Vancouver, but he clearly wasn't fully healthy. His condition must have worsened, or Knoblauch wasn't enthusiastic with Henrique's performance battling through injury for him to come out of the lineup entirely.
When Henrique missed game one, Mattias Janmark took over the spot on the team's top line left wing, along with several other depth players rotating into that spot. That plan didn't seem to work as desired, and when Leon Draisaitl was elevated to the top line, it became totally indefensible for the Canucks. Knoblauch wouldn't reveal tonight's lines at practice today, but did say Draisaitl could get looks on the first line once again.
The Oilers will be without their top trade deadline acquisition tonight, but with Draisaitl likely elevated to the top line, the top six will still be a massive problem for the Canucks to deal with.
