Oilers drop brutal Leon Draisaitl injury update with season-defining news
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Oilers drop brutal Leon Draisaitl injury update with season-defining news originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Edmonton Oilers have finally released an official injury update on Leon Draisaitl. It's not good.
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Draisaitl is "expected to miss the remainder of the regular season after sustaining a lower-body injury in the first period of the team's game versus Nashville on March 15," a release by the team said on Tuesday.
The Oilers have 14 games remaining in the regular season. They close out the campaign on April 16 against the Canucks.
Edmonton currently has 75 points, which is third in the Pacific Division, and seventh-best in the Western Conference overall.
An extended Draisaitl absence isn't what anyone was hoping for.
Late Sunday night, head coach Kris Knoblauch told reporters, “I don’t think it should be long. There might be some time off."
It turns out it's at least a month off.
MORE: Oilers might be closer to Connor McDavid nightmare than it appears
Draisaitl actually scored a power play goal before departing on Sunday.
He took a big hit into Nashville's bench, and it appeared the ailment may have come on that play in his lower back area.
Draisaitl played a bit more from that point on but then missed the rest of the game.
The German center is clearly one of the most important pieces of what Edmonton does night in and night out.
This season, he has 35 goals and 62 assists (97 points) in 65 games.
Draisaitl is over 1,000 career points, with 1,053 and counting -- 434 goals and 619 assists.
He's only played for Edmonton since being the No. 3 overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft.
Now, the countdown is on for Draisaitl to rejoin Connor McDavid and company by the time the playoffs start. Apparently, the race is on.
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