At a time when the Edmonton Oilers should be attempting to put themselves into as strong a position as possible for the playoffs, they find themselves faltering. A crucial loss to a Los Angeles Kings who they are fighting with for second place in the Pacific Division, was followed by a tough 3-2 defeat to an Anaheim Ducks team which is not on their level talent-wise.
As a result the Oilers are sixth in the Western Conference with five games remaining and four points behind the Kings, looking at losing out on home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. In fairness though, it isn't entirely the Oilers' fault that they find themselves in this position, albeit they have been far too inconsistent this season in general.
What isn't helping is an injury list of players, which includes Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Mattias Ekholm and Stuart Skinner. Add in John Klingberg and Trent Frederic, and you have a group good enough to form one of the better starting lineups in all of hockey.
How healthy will the Oilers be coming playoff time?
Now it should be noted that all six players have been listed as day-to-day with their injuries. The accepted understanding is that the Oilers could bring them back, but are hedging towards holding them off until the playoffs -- or at least as close to -- as feasible.
However, there is still a general concern about the injured players regardless, as mentioned by Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Journal. As Tychkwoski points out, there are no guarantees the walking-wounded will remain on the ice once they do return to action.
The main example of such a scenario is Draisaitl, who missed four games through injury and then returned for three games before suffering another ailment. A similar situation happened with Ekholm, who missed six games and after returning only lasted four games before having a relapse.
Particularly rough for trade deadline pickup
The worst example of an issue is Frederic, who was acquired ahead of this year's trade deadline. The 2016 first round draft pick only made his Oilers debut in Saturday's 3-0 loss to the Kings and even though he looked good, he re-injured his ankle.
We could go on and on, but you get the point. Heck, you can even throw Evander Kane into the equation, with him yet to play this season and similarly no way of knowing how he will hold up whenever he does eventually come back for the Oilers.
As we mentioned earlier, the Oilers have been far too inconsistent this season, whether it be their rough start through most of November, or their spotty form since early February. However, it becomes even more worrisome once you add a barrage of injuries to the equation.
We're pretty sure in assuming the Oilers will be as close to full health as possible come playoff time, but this remains a precarious situation overall. We'll be more than happy to be proven wrong, but this roster just doesn't seem as good as the one which went all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last season.
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