The Edmonton Oilers begin a stretch of games without Connor McDavid Tuesday night when they visit the Minnesota Wild (630 CHED, Face-off Show at 5:30 p.m., game at 7 p.m.).
McDavid will miss a week or two with an upper body injury suffered Saturday night in a 3-2 overtime loss against the Winnipeg Jets.
“(He’s a) big part of our team and our leader. We’re going to have to pick it up for him,” said forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who believes the Oilers did a lot of positive things against the Jets. “The way that we played with the pace and everybody playing together, that’s not going to change tomorrow.”
“We think it’s something a little more muscular than anything,” said head coach Jay Woodcroft of McDavid’s injury. “I take that as good news. I take that time frame that was put out there yesterday as good news. We’ll see how he does. He’s just got to get healthy here.”
With McDavid out, Evander Kane will slide in on the Oilers number one power play unit. Kane has yet to score this season despite having 11 shots on goal.
“It’s five games. There have been plenty of times where I haven’t scored in five-game segments. It’s not the first time in my career. Probably won’t be the last,” said Kane. “As frustrating as it can be sometimes, it happens to every player.”
McDavid last missed multiple games in February 2020 when he was out for six games with a knee issue. The Oilers went 3-2-1 without him.
Also on Monday, Sam Gagner signed a one-year contract with the Oilers American Hockey League affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors. Gagner had been with the Oilers on a professional tryout contract. He had double hip surgery in the off-season.
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