Reason behind Oilers high risk of injury will haunt the team in the playoffs

Top pairing defenceman Mattias Ekholm has now been ruled out for the rest of the season with his injury, a major blow for the Oilers that may even affect next year.

Oilers analyst Bruce Curlock believes a big factor in the team's slew of injuries is the fact that they're an older roster. They played a long playoff run last year, and the veteran players get priority ice time over younger ones.

Entering the season, the Oilers and the Penguins were near tied for the oldest rosters in the NHL. With the Penguins now eliminated, the Oilers will have the oldest roster left in the league.

Players like Corey Perry and Derek Ryan are some of the oldest in the NHL, and then many more veterans are pushing their mid 30s.

This will be a major challenge for the Oilers to overcome over an extended playoff run. Not only will their beaten up players need to withstand another 4 rounds, their older players may struggle to keep up against younger competition - and is more prone to getting hurt.

The Oilers currently have 7 key players out with injury, and aren't expecting Ekholm or Frederic back for Game 1 of the playoffs, and potentially even more.

Over last offseason, the Oilers got older, slower, and more prone to injury. Combine that with struggles in goal, and their chances of playoff success will be fragile.

The Oilers don't seem like a team build for a long playoff run. Their issues could even translate into a short series against Los Angeles. If the Oilers are able to find success, it will come from Herculean efforts from McDavid and Draisaitl - in spite of management's failures.