The Edmonton Oilers will be without one of their most important players down the final stretch of their playoff push.
Star forward Leon Draisaitl is expected to miss the rest of the regular season with a lower body injury, the team announced Tuesday. Draisaitl, whose 97 points in 65 games are second-most on the Oilers this season, took a hard hit from Nashville Predators Ozzy Wiesblatt in the first period of Sunday’s 3-1 win. Although he returned to the ice for a few more shifts in the first but did not re-enter the game once the second period began.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters Sunday that “it shouldn’t be a really long injury” judging by information given to him by the team’s medical staff.
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“No immediate red flags,” Knoblauch said. “… There might be some time off, but we’ll find out later.”
Draisaitl’s absence comes at a pivotal point in the Oilers’ (33-26-9) heated playoff race. With 14 games left in the season, they enter Tuesday at third place in the Pacific Division trailing the first-place Anaheim Ducks by two points and second-place Vegas Golden Knights by one point. They currently hold a four-point advantage over the Seattle Kraken and Los Angeles Kings for the final Western Conference wildcard spot, with the San Jose Sharks sitting one point behind them.
If the Oilers reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the seventh consecutive year, it’ll have to be without the player who has been responsible for 41% of their goals this season.
Draisaitl was the runner-up for the Hart Trophy as the league’s Most Valuable Player last season as the Oilers made it to the Stanley Cup Final; he won the award in 2020.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Leon Draisaitl injury update: Edmonton Oilers get bad news on star
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