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Oilers coach confirms more bad injury news for three players at practice
Photo credit: Brian Fluharty - USA Today Sports
The Edmonton Oilers are currently in the midst of a critical four game road trip, and the coach has unfortunately confirmed three more injury setbacks.
Some Oilers players did not travel with the team on their current trip, including Mattias Ekholm and Stuart Skinner. There was a possibility they may join the team, but that's now been ruled out.
Edmonton Oilers confirm three more injury setbacks at practice
According to Oilers reporters at practice today, Coach Knoblauch has confirmed that Ekholm and Skinner will remain at home in Edmonton, and will be unavailable for the next three games.
It's unfortunate the Oilers won't get their starting goalie or top defenceman back for the remainder of the road trip, especially with the team battling for home ice advantage in the playoffs.
Mattias Ekholm and Stuart Skinner remain unavailable with injury
The injuries to both Ekholm and Skinner are fairly concerning for Oilers fans. Both players play key roles for the team, and seem to be dealing with unpredictable injuries.
Mattias Ekholm has been shut down twice now this season to deal with an undisclosed illness and now injuries. He's clearly been battling issues since the new year, and it's reflected in a drop off in the quality of his play.
As a top pairing two way Defenceman, Ekholm is a major presence on the Oilers blue line and a perfect partner for Evan Bouchard. The Oilers need Ekholm fully healthy for the playoffs to get the most from their blue line.
Stuart Skinner's injury hasn't been confirmed, but the concern is obviously a concussion from the hard head contact he sustained.
Concussions can be very volatile with recovery times, and Skinner's timeline has already been extended from originally being day-to-day. Knoblauch revealed that Skinner has not skated since his injury.
Frankly, the Oilers will survive just fine without John Klingberg. It's a slight blow to their defensive depth, but both Troy Stecher and Ty Emberson are above the veteran Swedish defender on the depth chart.
Still, these injury setbacks don't sound like positive news for the Oilers. Their goal in the last stretch of the season has to be fully resting and healing their players for peak performance in the playoffs.
| POLL | ||
AVRIL 3 | 532 ANSWERS Oilers coach confirms more bad injury news for three players at practice Do you think the Oilers should be prioritizing rest, or getting players back in the lineup? | ||
| Rest | 451 | 84.8 % |
| Play the guys if they can go | 81 | 15.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
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