Oilers Reveal Connor McDavid Injury Update

Oilers fans' greatest fears came true on Monday night.

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Connor McDavid left the game against Columbus after only one shift, after falling awkwardly on an uncalled trip early in the first period of their 6-1 loss. The Oilers announced midway through the first period that he would not return.

It looked like McDavid's left ankle collided sharply with the boards as he fell, and he was clearly favouring his left leg as he left the ice.

This is a rare injury for McDavid, who's never missed more than seven games in a season since being sidelined for almost half of his rookie year. He missed six last season, most notably in October when he was sidelined with an upper-body injury.

McDavid's biggest injury came in 2019, when he basically completely destroyed his left knee in the final game of the regular season against Calgary. The injury was widely reported as catastrophic, the kind that can end careers, but it took McDavid only one gruelling offseason to return for the Oilers' 2019-20 home opener.

That's the good news for the Oilers: McDavid has shown throughout his career that he can bounce back quickly from injury. He showed it last year, he showed it in 2019, and he showed it in his rookie year when he missed only 37 games after suffering a broken clavicle.

The bad news is that McDavid will, at the very least, likely miss the rest of the team's current road trip. The only update head coach Kris Knoblauch was able to provide was that McDavid would head back home to Edmonton for evaluation.

With him out, Leon Draisaitl will need to step up as the team's undisputed #1 guy, and the Oilers will need to get everything they possibly can out of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman, Jeff Skinner, and Viktor Arvidsson. Considering that foursome has only three goals between them right now, they're going to need to deliver a lot more. With the team's collapse after his injury on Monday, there's definitely cause for worry.

Simply put, a long-term absence for McDavid would be a disaster for the Oilers. Already trying to fight back from a 4-5-1 record, they'll have to fight even harder if they're left without their captain for an extended period.

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