Fantasy Hockey Injury News: Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl Out, and More

What is happening in Alberta? Is there something in the water, or has it turned completely to oil? The Edmonton Oilers' roster has become a hospital in the last week, losing several of their most important players, at the worst time possible, especially for fantasy leagues.

Imagine losing your number one keeper or first round pick right as you go into fantasy league playoffs. If you drafted either of the big two in Edmonton, then that's you right now! Sorry about that.

Let's dive in, shall we?

Injury Bug in Alberta

Best in the World

Connor McDavid left Thursday's game against the Winnipeg Jets with an undisclosed injury. Not ideal for the Oilers, or for your fantasy team. Today he is supposed to go through an MRI and pending the results should give an accurate timeline of return.

Nobody wants to lose the best player on their team right before playoffs, let alone the best player in the world. Sadly, McDavid is not the only player injured on this team right now, and each significant absence compounds into panic for the Oilers.

The Oilers are sitting second in the Pacific Division, but are also only two points away from the second wildcard spot. Now is not the time to falter their momentum or they will quickly see themselves on the outside looking in.

McDavid is an impact player, the captain, and the heart and soul of this franchise. When the Oilers struggle, he often puts the team on his back and drags them through and achieves victory himself. Several times he has seen his team looking at defeat only to explode and have a multi-game night and carry them across the finish line. Nobody is faster, nobody is better, and nobody cares more about winning than McDavid.

McDavid has 26 goals, 64 assists, and 29 powerplay points as a forward in 63 games played. He also has 187 shots on goal, 39 hits, and 17 blocked shots.

The loss of the best player in the world is very concerning for the Oilers, and pending how his MRI goes should be very concerning for McDavid owners too.

1B is Down Too

Hey, there is always a backup plan, right? If your 1A goes down, then your 1B can sub in. When the Pittsburgh Penguins have Sidney Crosby go down, Evgeni Malkin always steps up and plays out of this world. He is always better when Crosby is out of the lineup, so surely the Oilers have a backup plan and will be fine to coast into the playoffs, right?

Leon Draisaitl is said backup plan. He is the 1B to McDavid's 1A. But. Sadly, he is out and also going through an MRI on Friday, and missed Thursday's game completely.

What are the odds? Surely there is some sort of prop bet on this. What was bad, quickly went to worse. This is the worst possible scenario for the Oilers, and the timing is worse still. The whole team is built around these two players, and nearly all of their scoring runs through them.

Draisaitl is listed as out a lower body injury, which at least gives some transparency on his injury. That said, the team has made it clear their priority is to have him healthy for the playoffs, which could severely limit his usage down the stretch. 

If the Oilers feel like they are still going to make the playoffs, they could potentially rest both superstars which is terrible news for Draisaitl owners. Currently he is scheduled to miss at least a week, which is the first matchup of your fantasy playoffs. Not good.

Draisaitl has 49 goals, 52 assists, and 31 powerplay points as a forward in 68 games played. He also has 229 shots on goal, 22 hits, and 25 blocked shots.

Defending the Pipes

Surely with McDavid and Draisaitl that must be the end of their injury woes. Right? Right?!

Kind of. Hear me out. Stuart Skinner also left Thursday's game against the Jets (I see a theme here), under concussion protocol. He was hit in the third period and pulled from the game via a concussion spotter and did not return.

While he is clear to play on Saturday night against the Seattle Kraken, it is likely that goaltender Calvin Pickard will have the start with Stuart serving as the backup as a precautionary. I believe the team wants to rest Skinner if at all possible, as they are clearly dealing with other significant injuries on their roster and don't want to chance their starter's health.

Skinner hasn't had the greatest season, as is a recurring theme with the Oilers' netminders, but his adequate play has solidified him as their starter and given them a real opportunity to go deep into the playoffs (assuming both McDavid and Draisaitl play).

Skinner has 23 wins in 46 games started this year as a goalie. He also has a .896 save percentage, 2.85 goals against average, and two shutouts.

Golden Opportunity

William Karlsson of the Vegas Golden Knights finally returned to action on Thursday against the Boston Bruins in a 5-1 win where he notched an apple in his debut.

Karlsson missed 20 games with a lower body injury this season and left a hole down the middle of the ice. Karlsson's numbers this year have impacted his usual production, but his return is still good news for the Golden Knights.

His return could be good news for you also, if you are looking for some injury relief or a streamer spot on your roster leading into fantasy playoffs; Karlsson is only rostered in approximately 35% of leagues out there. 

A couple quick notes on him are he played on the third line, but did see some second powerplay unit time on a powerhouse team, but again his production is not on par with years past. He did have the third highest ice time of all forwards on the Golden Knights in his return, though. Food for thought.

Karlsson has seven goals, 12 assists, and two powerplay points as a forward in 39 games played. He also has 91 shots on goal, 15 hits, and 27 assists.

The Great Eight Scores 888

Finally, let's get some Alex Ovechkin news in here! He needs only seven more goals to break the record.

Ovi scored his 888th goal against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night's win, which in turn gained the Washington Capitals their 100th point, and clinched them a playoff spot; the first playoff clinch in the league!

Ovi owners rejoice, the closer we get to the record, the more he is going to shoot. The more he is going to shoot, the more assists anyone on the ice with him are going to pile up. I will bet he starts averaging 4-5 shots a game as we inch closer to Wayne Gretzky's goal scoring record.

It's been announced that at four goals remaining, both Gretzky and several NHL staff will start to travel to every Captial's game in anticipation of Ovi taking the record.

The NHL has also gone on record to state that when Ovi ties the record, the team will be allowed to empty the bench to celebrate with him on the ice, and when he breaks the record they will allow for a seven-minute interruption to the game for celebration and ceremony.

I can't wait until history is made! All eyes will be on Ovi and the Caps until this happens, but let's also not discount that they were the first team to clinch a playoff spot this year. That in itself is very impressive so let's not lose sight of this achievement.