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On Wednesday, April 9, the Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch shared on his X account (formerly known as Twitter) about the latest health update of star players Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, when they would return to action on the ice.
What did Kris Knoblauch say about the return of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl?
Kris feels that players are on their way to return to action and it can happen before the season ends.
We expect to get everybody before the end of the season, whether that's in a couple games or one of the last two games of the season. Those guys are day-to-day to maybe a week away.
Leon Draisaitl is the league's leading goal scorer with 52 goals to his name. He suffered a lower body injury during last Thursday's game against San Jose Sharks. In the month of March, Draisaitl has missed a total of four games.
The team captain Connor McDavid has not played a single game since he left the ice on March 20 during a game against the Winnipeg Jets. McDavid has missed a total of eight games and has been listed as day-to-day.
The Oilers are navigating through their own injury issues but are confident that the players will return to action before the playoffs. On Wednesday, McDavid, Draisaitl, Mattias Ekholm and goalie Stuart Skinner took part in skating in the morning practice ahead of the Oilers' clash against St Louis Blues. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will also be out due to illness as the Oilers are going to be without their entire first line.
The Edmonton Oilers are placed third in the Pacific Division and their 3-2 loss to Anaheim Ducks was their third loss in the series.
If we're 3-1 after a road trip like that, we're very happy. 2-2 after starting 2-0, we're disappointed, Knoblauch said via NHL.com. Tonight's game, I feel like it was one that we probably should have won.
The Oilers were short on players with just 11 forwards and six defensemen because of the salary-cap space constraints.
McDavid and Draisaitl important players for Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers have won just one game when both McDavid and Draisaitl were out of the action. On top of it, they have won four of the eight games that McDavid missed as Draisaitl played in three of them. He even scored a winning goal in one of the games.
Kris Knoblauch feels that the absence of the star players mean that other's get the chance to portray their talent on the ice.
As for our team, I think guys stepped up without the few games that we played without Leon and Connor, Knoblauch said on April 3.
The Edmonton Oilers will play their last regular season game on April 16, when they take on San Jose Sharks.
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