Edmonton Oilers' long injury list continues to grow

The injury bug continues to bite the Edmonton Oilers to start the 2026-27 NHL season. The club announced on Tuesday that veteran centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will be sidelined with an injury to begin the year.

According to Elliotte Friedman, Oilers head coach Mike Babcock revealed that Nugent-Hopkins suffered an injury in practice and the estimated timeline is two weeks. Looking at their practice lines, he was expected to occupy the second line centre spot heading into this season, an area that was already thinned by injury.

Oilers suffering through multiple injuries

The Oilers announced their opening night roster on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday and there were a number of players who were annotated with a '*' beside their name, indicating they were on injured reserve.

Including Nugent-Hopkins' injury which happened today, there are seven players currently injured on the Oilers roster. Goaltender Frederik Andersen, defencemen Alec Regula and Atro Leppanen, along with forwards Matt Savoie, Jason Dickinson, Mattias Janmark, and Nugent-Hopkins all begin the season on the sidelines with injuries.

Babcock and general manager Stan Bowman spoke to various outlets about the Oilers current status and timeline of injuries. Leppanen and Regula were not specifically spoken about or given timelines making their status unknown and indefinite. Leppanen left a preseason match against the Vancouver Canucks last week.

The last update on Regula came in August when the Oilers put out a press release announcing various injuries, saying he would not take part in training camp. At the time, the club stated the Regula continues to recover from a medical procedure that was performed "shortly after the season concluded,".

Janmark in that same press release was in a similar circumstance, recovering from a surgery performed late last season that sidelined him for the remainder of the 2025-26 season. Bowman briefly spoke on Sports1440 according to Jason Gregor saying "Janmark isn't close to playing either. He is several weeks away from playing,". Which casts some uncertainty on his timeline or if he will return as he enters the final season of a three-year contract paying him $1.45 million.

After suffering an injury setback during training camp, Oilers shutdown centre Dickinson will have to wait to begin the first year of his new five-year contract extension. There is not a set timeline for his return but it appears to be short term with Bowman saying on Monday "I don't have a timeline. It isn't a serious injury." Babcock said he was 'a bit' away from a return.

Savoie and Andersen both appear to be longer term than what was initially reported. Babcock said on Tuesday on Savoie "At the start of the week, he was 8 weeks away" and on Andersen "Maybe December. He is a ways away." Giving them a similar timeline of eight weeks or more.

Bowman gave a less defined timeline saying about Savoie "He will start skating on his own, likely in the next week or so. Then from that point forward we will have a better gauge of where he will be. " On Andersen he said "Andersen will be longer than Savoie. I have no set timeline."

The injuries continue to pile up for the Oilers who will start the season without multiple key fixtures on the team. It will be a good test for how the team will handle the adversity and if they can show they are capable of playing down a few men, it can only be a good sign for team morale.

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