Edmonton Oilers star forward Leon Draisaitl, who has 97 points in 65 games, is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season after sustaining a lower-body injury, the team said Tuesday.
Draisaitl, who has 35 goals and 62 assists this season, suffered the injury on a hard hit from Ozzy Wiesblatt in the first period of Sunday’s victory vs. Nashville. He came back for a couple of shifts but didn’t return for the start of the second period.
Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said Sunday that information from the team’s medical staff implied that “it shouldn’t be a really long injury.”
“No immediate red flags,” Knoblauch said. “… There might be some time off, but we’ll find out later.”
Draisaitl’s absence from the lineup comes at a time in which the Oilers (33-26-9) are trying to reach the playoffs for a seventh straight season, but his injury raises the question if they can do so without a player who has been responsible for either creating or scoring 41% of their goals this season.
After back-to-back appearances in the Western Conference finals, Edmonton, which has 14 games remaining in the regular season, entered Tuesday in third place in the tightly contested Pacific Division. The Oilers trail the first-place Anaheim Ducks by two points and are one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights for second place.
The Oilers have a four-point advantage over Seattle for the final Western Conference wild-card spot, but they have also played two more games than the Kraken. The Los Angeles Kings, meanwhile, are tied on points with the Kraken but are just on the outside of the playoff picture while upstart San Jose sits one point behind Seattle.
Draisaitl, 30, won the Hart Trophy as MVP in 2020 and was the runner-up last season as the Oilers reached the Stanley Cup Final.
Jason Dickinson is expected to slot in as the second-line center while Draisaitl is sidelined.
ESPN’s Ryan S. Clark and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
