Kris Knoblauch Gives Updates On Darnell Nurse, Zach Hyman, and Viktor Arvidsson

The Oilers will be without a few key players for a while longer.

After practice on Thursday, head coach Kris Knoblauch provided status updates on Darnell Nurse, Viktor Arvidsson, and Zach Hyman, who are all dealing with short-term injuries.

The news is encouraging for Nurse, who's missed two games with concussion symptoms after leaving Saturday's game against Toronto following a high hit from Ryan Reaves. Nurse won't play tonight against Minnesota, but could be ready to go for Saturday's tilt with the New York Rangers.

"I feel good," Nurse told the media after skating with the team on Thursday morning. "With these things, timelines are up to multiple people, and what I feel isn't always indicative of what's going to happen, so we'll see."

The news is a little worse for the two right wingers. Knoblauch said Hyman will be out for "4-7 days" after leaving Tuesday's game in Ottawa with an unknown injury.

As for Arvidsson, his injury continues to drag on longer than expected. Originally expected to be back in the lineup by last weekend, Knoblauch announced that not only will he miss tonight's game, but Saturday's as well.

"It's taking a little bit longer than we thought," he told reporters after practice. "It's one of those things where if it was the playoffs he'd be playing, but where we are in the regular season it's better to recover and be able to come back at a hundred percent."

The Oilers are saved a little bit by their schedule. They have a five-day break between Saturday's game and their visit to Utah on Friday, November 29th, giving all three injured players a chance to recover without missing a big chunk of games. Judging by Knoblauch's comments at the morning skate, all three players should be back in the lineup in Utah.

The Oilers have been busy as they fill the gaps left by the three players, claiming Kasperi Kapanen off waivers from St. Louis and recalling Drake Caggiula from Bakersfield. Both will draw into the lineup tonight as Kapanen makes his Oilers debut next to Jeff Skinner and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

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