The Oilers announced two days later that Draisaitl was expected to miss the remainder of the regular season. He’ll miss his 13th straight game when Edmonton hosts the Colorado Avalanche on Monday (9:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, SNW, ALT, KTVD). Draisaitl will also be unavailable for the Oilers’ regular-season finale against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
Draisaitl, who has 97 points (35 goals, 62 assists) in 65 games, traveled to his native Germany roughly a week after sustaining the injury to have it assessed by a specialist. He resumed skating on his own early last week while the Oilers were on a three-game road trip.
Edmonton (40-30-10) is second in the Pacific Division, one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights. The Oilers are in a points tie with the Anaheim Ducks but hold the first tiebreaker with six more regulation wins (31/25).
“He’s got some healing process to go through,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Hopefully with some skates and the rehab treatments that he’s getting, he’s ready for us. Ideally, it would be Game 1 (of the playoffs). If it’s Game 3 or 4, then so be it. We’re going to have to adjust.”
Draisaitl has dealt with injuries in previous postseasons. He played through a high ankle sprain sustained in the first round of the 2022 playoffs against the Los Angeles Kings, and an upper-body injury in 2024 when the Oilers lost to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.
“There’s certain things you can play through and other things that you have think about your future and the team’s future a little bit,” Draisaitl said. “I think our medical staff and myself, we know how to handle these situations and we know when it’s good to (play) and when it’s not. We’ll take it one day at a time and hopefully it works out.
“It’s a little bit of everything; it’s a little bit of feel, how the player feels, if he’s ready to go, and obviously there’s some on-ice stuff that is required to be feeling really good. Once those are all checked off, then I guess it’s kind of up to the medical staff.”
Draisaitl is expected to skate with the Oilers for the rest of the week, which should give him a better indication on a possible return.
“Nobody knows their bodies better than the athlete themselves,” he said. “I know my body better than anyone in the world. I know when I’m ready to go and when I’m forcing it. I’m highly aware of that, and this isn’t an injury that you should force anything with.
“I’m going to see how I feel by the end of the week, and hopefully it feels great and maybe I’m an option (for Game 1) or maybe it’s a couple of games later. We’ll see.”
