Banged Up Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers have a few injuries on their hand, and maybe down a few players when they take on the defending champion Kings tonight in LA. Forwards Teddy Purcell, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins all missed practice on Monday, and are currently listed as day-to-day.

RNH got into a scrap on Saturday night with Canucks defender Dan Hamhuis, and could have injured his hand in the scuffle. The Oilers clearly have some concern here, as center Bogdan Yakimov was recalled on Monday afternoon. RNH has had an injury history in his young NHL career, most notably with his shoulder.

Jordan Eberle got his bell rung on Saturday night, and while he stayed in the game he clearly was not the same player after the hit. Eberle could very well have a head injury, which would keep him out a number of games, but is only listed as day-to-day. With Jordan, it’s better to be safe than sorry, because this is a guy that is a massive part of the Oiler attack.

Purcell has been pretty good early this season as well, and is a big part of the secondary scoring unit. To be honest, I’m not sure what his injury is, because he looked fine on Saturday night and nothing was ever reported until he missed practice yesterday. He, like RNH and Eberle, is listed as day-to-day, but there was no official diagnosis given.

All three of these guys will be worth keeping an eye on, because quite frankly the Oilers don’t have the depth to sustain many injuries, especially to top guys like these three. Purcell has given the team a solid secondary scoring threat, while both Eberle and RNH combine with Taylor Hall to give Edmonton a top-line that usually dominates the opposition.

An injury to RNH could actually sink Edmonton’s season. The Oilers have little to no center depth, and RNH is by a mile the best offensive pivot that the team has. A long term injury here would leave the Oilers with Bogdan Yakimov, Boyd Gordon, Leon Draisaitl and Mark Arcobello, which quite frankly is just not good enough.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet is reporting that RNH got hurt on Saturday night, likely on the hit that led to his fight with Dan Hamhuis, which was also was listed as a possible spot for the injury. Personally, I have no issue with RNH dropping the gloves from time to time, I think he should stand up for himself, but if this leads to a big injury I’d be leery of every dropping the mitts again.

As for the availability of these three for tonight, it sounds like they all could possibly go. Jack Michaels, the Oilers play-by-play voice, mentioned on his twitter on Monday afternoon that all three were still a possibility to play in LA, so we should assume just as much for tonight.

Personally, I think we see both Purcell and Eberle in the lineup, while RNH takes the night off. Bogdan Yakimov will likely draw in for his first NHL action, which would be a milestone .

It doesn’t sound like any of these injuries are severe, Eakins mentioned Eberle is just sore from “all the hits and overuse” and also mentioned that all the above players came in fit and don’t really need to practice everyday. It seems like for the most part, these are just maintenance days for a group of players that are only a little banged up, that’s the hope at least.

More info on these injuries in the game preview blog that will be up later today.