Late in Edmonton’s 4-2 victory last Wednesday afternoon, forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins took a high hit that ended his day. It also kept him out of Thursday’s victory over the Senators, and Saturday night’s beatdown at the hands of the Calgary Flames.
The Oilers, thanks to their fourth postponed game against the Canucks in three weeks, will only play once this weekend. They’ll have to face the Jets in a potential playoff preview in Winnipeg without Nugent-Hopkins later tonight. The Oilers confirmed on Thursday that he will not travel with the team and won’t be available for the contest.
“He skated a little bit (Wednesday) and then didn’t skate (Thursday) so it doesn’t look like he’ll come on the trip with us,” Tippett said on Thursday afternoon. The club later confirmed that Nugent-Hopkins wouldn’t travel, and he didn’t on Friday.
“It’s caution. He skated two or three times this week and then (Thursday) wasn’t feeling as good as he was the last couple of days so he stayed off the ice. No use taking him on a quick two-day trip like this if he’s not going to have a chance to play. We’ll leave him home and hopefully, he’ll continue to rest. He’ll skate here with (skating coach) David Pelletier and we’ll see how he is when we get back.”
The Oilers are, rightfully, taking the cautious approach with Nugent-Hopkins. The veteran forward is currently on IR, and could miss more time depending on how he responds over the weekend. While there has been no diagnosis from the Oilers, the expectation is that Nugent-Hopkins is dealing with a concussion.
In his absense, Tippett has made some interesting decisions. In both prior games, the veteran coach elected to keep Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the same line. While the Oilers are 1-1-0 in those games, they were vastly outplayed. In fact, they mustered a pitiful 17 shots in their 5-0 loss to the Flames last Saturday.
The dynamic duo remained intact at practice on Thursday, and indication that the Oilers will load up the top line on Saturday and pray for good weather. Gaetan Haas centered the second line with Dominik Kahun and Kailer Yamamoto, while Jujhar Khaira and Devin Shore center the third and fourth lines. Kyle Turris was also at center, but with the fifth line.
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