“When he is healthy, we want him to join, we want him to play. But we are not pushing for something that might get worse.”
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It will be a light aircraft, and the Edmonton Oilers will be with the Edmonton Oilers on the last long trip of the regular season.
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A host of players on the mend who won’t be packing their bags, initially, at least, including defencemen Mattias Ekholm and John Klingberg, as well as starting goalie Stuart Skinner and, last but not least, captain Connor McDavid, as the Oilers open a four-game swing through the southwestern US, beginning against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday.
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Forwards Evander Kane and Trent Frederic will not play the Oilers this season and they will continue to move forward but can only continue to skate with the club before their debut, which will not be until the playoffs for Kane.
But if Leon Draisaitl’s latest outing is any sign, a little r and r (rest and recover instead of relaxing) may not be the worst thing.
The league-leading goalkeeper beat his 50th and 51st place with undisclosed damage in the first four games with a 3-2 overtime victory in Saturday’s Alberta campaign.
Imagine if the Oilers gave up his leeway for the rest of the regular season until the playoffs catch up with his face-to-face in 4 countries, he faced gold medals in 4 countries, then he himself missed four, himself, himself, himself taking a lower injury.
Oil leak
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Not used, the team wants to return their franchise to the lineup as soon as possible, thank you very much, thank you very much.
“I think the most important thing is that he is healthy, 100% playoffs,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “But to say that the regular season isn’t that important, and we didn’t work hard for anything, just in time and in time I think it’s a bit far-fetched. We don’t have that position.
“So when he’s healthy, we want him to join, we want him to play. But we’re not pushing for something that might get worse.”
McDavid had a chance to catch up with the team before ending in Anaheim on April 7.
“We know when it will be a court, and it won’t be the next or two games,” Nobrach said. “We think it should be before the regular season is over. So we’re looking at one, two, up to three weeks (weeks) because that’s what we left behind during the season.
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“But he will be (back) before the regular season ends.”
Email: godejong@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @gerrymoddejonge
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