Imagine being less than a month away from the Stanley Cup playoffs with not one, not two, not three, but potentially FOUR of your star players out of the lineup! Well, for the Oilers, that’s a burning reality. With Connor McDavid suffering a lower body injury during the second period when the Oilers played the Jets on Thursday and Leon Draisaitl suffering an undisclosed injury after the Oilers played Utah, the team is already missing key players. But injuries haven’t stopped them from showing their support in other ways.

However, to make matters worse, Evander Kane has been out most of the season on account of his abdominal surgery (he is only returning now on a day-to-day basis), and recent acquisition Trent Frederic has yet to play for the Oilers since he was acquired in March! This quad of players might be on the sidelines, but that hasn’t stopped them from coming out to support the team after their hard-fought, 4-5 win against the Seattle Kraken.

In a clip posted by Sportsnet, the 4 players were captured waiting to give fistbumps to all their teammates as they exited the ice. But more specifically, the video showed the players giving their support to goaltender Stuart Skinner.

There’s more; Skinner was close to being the 5th player on the injury list! So his inclusion in the lineup in the Oilers 5-4 win against the Kraken was something worth coming out in support of. In the same game against the Jets that saw Connor McDavid out of the lineup, the concussion spotter raised concern about Skinner, but both coach Kris Knoblauch and Skinner felt differently about the call, resulting in Skinner playing yesterday’s game. Which then led to the post-game video of Draisaitl, Frederic, McDavid, and Kane fist-bumping their goaltender.

The pressure is probably on these four with playoffs being less than a month away, but when it comes to injuries, most have to just leave it to fate (and the physio, of course). But wait, the question is though, for how long?

Will Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl make it back to the Oilers lineup in time for the playoffs?

Kris Knoblauch has confirmed that both Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid may be out for up to a week. Draisaitl was injured after the game against Utah, while McDavid sustained a lower body injury after playing against the Jets. Both players required MRIs to gauge the extent of the injuries, but at the moment NHL insider Elliotte Friedman has confirmed that it looks likely that they will appear in the playoffs, much to the relief of fans.

“Well, the word at this point in time is that there are no worries that these are long-term ailments that will threaten their playoff availability in any way,” assured Friedman. “As of today, it appears likely that Leon Draisaitl’s timeline is ahead of Connor McDavid’s.” He also added another optimistic update: “But I have been warned that McDavid has blown past injury timelines before.”

Friedman’s words are reassuring, but Knoblauch has made it clear that he isn’t willing to take any risks or worsen the situation. This will be a tough balance to maintain without these two star players, with Connor McDavid having scored 90 points in 63 games this season and Draisaitl leading the league with 49 goals! However, luckily for Oilers fans, they can rest easy, for now, with Friedman’s update.

That being said, there is still Evander Kane and Trent Frederic to consider. Kane has unfortunately been out since September, when he had an abdominal surgery. Not only that, but he was taken back in in January for knee surgery. Though he seems to be making a slow return on a day-to-day basis, Knoblauch and the rest of Oil Nation will be watching while on the edges of their seats.

Then of course, there’s Frederic, who was injured at the time of his acquisition from the Bruins and who looks like he’s still another 1-2 weeks away from playing. So the fate of that particular trade will probably make itself clear just around the time of playoffs, but as mentioned, that is the case with injuries: we leave it to fate and we wait.