Why Injuries Can Be a Good Thing for the Edmonton Oilers

By Sammi Silber |

It all started in the preseason for the Edmonton Oilers. Jordan Eberle was checked awkwardly into the boards and hit his shoulder. Once we saw it happen, we all knew. Eberle knew he was injured immediately, and he knew it was severe. He skated right off the ice and right to the locker room, never to return to that game.

It turned out to be 4-6 more weeks that Eberle wouldn’t return to the ice, and to the injured reserve he went. Matt Hendricks would become his replacement on the top line, but would hurt his foot blocking a shot. He would go to the IR. As would Griffin Reinhart. As would Rob Klinkhammer. As would Justin Schultz.

It seems that the injuries are going around the locker room, and players are dropping like flies. Five players now sit on the IR, though Eberle is close to his return.

This seemed like the worst thing to happen to the Edmonton Oilers. A team that is looking to rebuild its team and come back up the standings now has to roll without some of its best players.

Enter Connor McDavid, Nail Yakupov and Benoit Pouliot. With these injuries, the youngsters (and some Pouliot action) all get the chance to step up and shine.

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For the past seven games, this line has combined for over 20 points over the course of these past games. McDavid and Yakupov are rolling on seven game point streaks. Benoit Pouliot is looking as useful as ever and is making the most out of the plays he receives from these two.

Yakupov has told media that this line is always talking on the bench and that they bounce off each other because they know exactly what they are going to do.

With some of the top offensive power-forwards out, this line has stepped it up. McDavid is taking some pain away from the loss of Eberle, and is the team’s leading scorer thus far. Yakupov is bouncing back and is looking much better than he has in the past seasons since being drafted into the NHL. What is expected of him is finally translating onto the ice.

Besides the production of this line, let’s see what else these lovely injuries have brought us. Enter Darnell Nurse and Leon Draisaitl.

“They’re not NHL ready yet.” This rung in the ears of many Edmonton Oilers fans once discovered that Peter Chiarelli had sent Leon Draisaitl and Darnell Nurse down to the Bakersfield Condors. The words may have been true at the time, based on the player’s performances throughout training camp. They also held true as Draisaitl struggled in the AHL, and as Nurse looked to be finding rhythm down there in the minors.

Let’s start with discussing Darnell Nurse. Edmonton has been struggling when it comes to the defense, obviously. With the performance in some of the past games from the Oilers blueline, many fans raised their eyebrows and asked, “How long will it be before Nurse comes up?”

Not too long. Once Schultz was injured, Darnell was called up. And in just his first game this season, you could see him making the most out of his time up here. He is a fierce back-checker and proved to be a great skater out there for the Oilers. He came in clutch join the backend and even went coast to coast for his first NHL goal on a blistering slapshot. He was also a +1 vs. Minnesota and skated for 19 minutes.

The Nurse was in for the game against Montreal as well. For the most part, he did a lot of the dirty work to stop the Montreal Canadiens from capitalizing and keeping the Oilers in the game. He notched an assist and maintained a +1 through 19 minutes of ice time. And let’s keep in mind that the Oilers dressed seven defensemen, and Nurse was on the ice for almost a whole period’s worth of time.

This was not just a “good game.” This is Darnell Nurse. This is what he brings to Edmonton, and he is hoping to make the most out of his opportunity and stay up in Edmonton.

Let’s talk Leon now. PC wanted Draisaitl to fully develop before coming into the NHL, stating that the next time he comes up, he would for good. The Oilers would call up Andrew Miller and Iiro Pakarinen before going for Draisaitl, and he did everything he could to prove the Oilers wrong in his first game up.

He was skating on the top line with Taylor Hall and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Hall pulled him aside and told him to calm down and that he was a good player. Coming off a night from three hours of sleep, endless plane flying and skating around, he was exhausted, but he notched a goal at the end of the second on a deflection from Hall.

Next came a goal from Brandon Davidson, then a goal from Pouliot. With a minute left, Draisaitl didn’t want to go to overtime. He was hungry to finish it. On a perfect pass from behind the net from Nuge, with just around a minute left, he shoots it into the empty net and buries it. He is the factor that wins the game for the Oilers against the best team in the league.

This just goes to show that maybe the IR is helping the Oilers find which players work and which ones don’t. It’s showing who will step up to the plate and who will sit back. Maybe, it could be the difference over who stays and who goes come the deadline or the offseason. Or maybe even sooner when some players are returning and some need to be sent down.

Nevertheless, it seems that some players are really making the most out of the Oilers injury woes.

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