Injury to Connor McDavid both a problem and an opportunity for scuffling Oilers

EDMONTON — A cold, harsh blanket of reality enveloped the Edmonton area as Oilers fans awoke on Monday morning. And to make matters worse, it snowed as well. 

The Oilers are cratering, Connor McDavid is injured, and winter arrived early in northern Alberta. 

How the heck are we going to blame all of this on Justin Trudeau? 

“The reality of our line of work is that guys get hurt. That’s how you have to manage things — next man up,” said Oilers winger Zach Hyman, regurgitating the hockey cliché that is used so often for this one simple reason.  

It’s true. 

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“We have to be a team. We really have to come together here,” Hyman said. “Your best player gets hurt. You have to come together and pick up the slack, and it’s not one guy doing it. Because there’s no Connor McDavid coming into the locker room. It’s everybody picking up the slack together, being a little bit better than they were before. 

“Guys want more ice time?” he said. “There’s nobody who plays more — and more important roles — than Connor does. So there’s opportunity there. 

“If you’re a younger guy, if you’re a guy who hasn’t had a great start and you want to make an impact, it’s the time to do it. There’s a lot of opportunity to do it — and we’re looking for it.” 

At 1-3-1 and without a third-period goal thus far in the 2023-24 season, the Oilers have fallen flat out of the gates. And now this, with McDavid seen grabbing at his hip or lower back in Saturday’s game against Winnipeg, before taking a permanent seat in the bench late in the third period. 

He is said to be out “one to two weeks,” which puts McDavid’s participation in Sunday’s Heritage Classic in serious jeopardy.

“We think it’s a little bit more muscular than anything,” head coach Jay Woodcroft said Monday. “I take that as good news, and I take that time-frame as good news. He’s just got to get healthy here.” 

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The last time McDavid was hurt for any stretch of games was the 2019-20 campaign, where he missed six games with a quad injury. They went 3-2-1, and Leon Draisaitl had four goals and 12 points. 

At practice on Monday, the goalless Evander Kane was promoted to the first power-play unit in McDavid’s absence. 

On Saturday, Kane’s walk-off interview with Sportsnet’s Scott Oake caused an Internet stir when it sounded as if Kane was complaining about a lack of ice time. Here’s the exchange: 

Oake: “Evander, you had some jump in the second period. Would it be fair to say the scrap with your former teammate, Brenden Dillon, was part of you finding your game?” 

Kane: “I didn’t play much in the first period, so I thought, ‘Might as well get into a fight. Take seven or eight minutes in the box.”  

Asked about that on Monday, Kane decried the fact that whoever put together the short video neglected to include Oake’s question. 

“So (his answer) had no context,” Kane said on Monday. “I said, ‘Yeah, I played three minutes in the first,’ which was a fact. I got into a fight, which was a fact. And then I spent seven minutes in the box, which was another fact.” 

However Woodcroft originally greeted the clip, he was trying to spin it into motivation on Monday. Woodcroft needs players to step up here and he’s not going to be choosy as to which ones they are. 

“I see that as a positive,” he said of the Kane-Oake exchange. “I saw somebody that was frustrated with the way the first two periods went in terms of the amount of penalties taken. 

“I don’t see that as a negative at all. I see it as someone who’s passionate and wants to get into a rhythm and wants to play.” 

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And boy or boy, do the Oilers need a few guys like that, beginning Tuesday night in Minnesota, and starting with Kane, who has been silent so far this season. 

“It was a tough five-game segment,” said Kane. “It’s not the first time I’ve gone five games without scoring a goal. But that’s what I’m here to do (score), and that’s what I’ve done my whole career. So obviously when you lose Connor, everybody has to step up. He’s probably the only player in the league who is irreplaceable.” 

We’ll talk about this next two week segment, I would predict, until this blanket of October snow melts some time in March. 

Did they turn their season around with a heroic team effort? Did certain players rise at the moment they were most needed? 

Or, did it go the other way? Did Edmonton fail to quiet those who say they’re a one-man team? 

Was two weeks without their captain and leader enough to break them, while down south the Vegas Golden Knights forge a perfect record with captain Alex Pietrangelo on the Injured List? 

The time to stand up and be counted has come early in Edmonton this fall. 

Just like the snow. 

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