The Edmonton Oilers are set for their date with destiny, as they prepare to face the Dallas Stars for the right to advance to the Stanley Cup Final. This is their second Western Conference Final in three seasons, and they will be hoping for a vastly different outcome to last time, when they were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in 2021-22.
The Oilers are understandably underdogs versus the Stars, who took five out of a possible six points from them during the regular season. Dallas also has home-ice advantage, after finishing with the best record in the Western Conference.
As always, health will play a key role in this series. This was not much of an issue for the Oilers during the regular season, as they lost just 60 man games to injury which, as per NHLinjuryvix.com, was the second-fewest in the league.
However, it's been a slightly different story during these playoffs. Leon Draisaitl was not at 100 percent during the Vancouver Canucks series, while Evander Kane has had to continue managing a sports hernia issue which has plagued him all season.
The ongoing Adam Henrique injury saga
The biggest concern though, is the ongoing absence of Adam Henrique. After leading the team in hits during the first round series versus the Los Angeles Kings, he was limited to just one game against the Canuck, due to an ankle injury which continues to linger.
Everytime it seems like Henrique is going to return, he suffers a setback with what has been described as a high ankle sprain. This leads to the question of when he will actually be back for the Oilers?
According to Tom Gazzola of The Oil Stream on Edmonton Sport Talk, Henrique is expected to play in the Dallas Series, but it's still unclear when. For what it's worth the forward was moving well on the ice during practice on Wednesday, but there will remain a concern and frustration until he actually suits up for a game.
For Henrique, he's aiming to return early for the Western Conference Final. Speaking to the media on Wednesday, he said: "It's been painful watching. We're all on the same page as far as where we're at, and how we're going about things, but we're just taking it a day at a time."
Other health concerns
Evander Kane was absent from practice on Wednesday, prior to the team leaving to travel to Dallas. Before anyone panics however, this has been a regular occurrence, with Kane getting as much rest in between games as possible due to his sports hernia.
More generally speaking, one thing the Oilers will have to be careful about in particular, is a bug which has been doing the rounds in the locker room. As per Jim Parsons of The Hockey Writers, it was noticeable that Connor McDavid sounded ill during his interview following game seven in Vancouver.
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch has alluded to the illness bug, as opposed to outright confirming it is the case. Regardless, fans have to hope that it's nothing severe, otherwise it could prove to have a detrimental impact on the quest to make it to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since the 2005-06 season.