Edmonton Oilers Suffer Potentially Devastating Blow On The Eve Of The Stanley Cup Playoffs

As of late, the Edmonton Oilers have been fighting through injuries, with the likes of Stuart Skinner, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl all missing time, and in their latest game on Friday night, they saw both Mattias Ekholm and Zach Hyman leave the game due to injury.

In that game, Ekholm played just two shifts before he decided he could not continue, and on Saturday, the Oilers just learned some potentially devastating news, with Ekholm's availability for the entire Stanley Cup Playoffs now in doubt.

In 65 games this season, Ekholm tallied a solid 9 goals and 33 points on the Oilers top pairing alongside a +11 differential, and without him, this defensive core that is already seen as weak becomes that much weaker.

At this point in time, it's unclear what the injury is that's holding Ekholm back, and while we aren't likely to get confirmation that's done for the remainder of the season in the next few hours, the team will likely want to clarify his status before the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin.

With McDavid and Draisaitl both working their way back to 100% and Skinner's struggles to stay healthy, things have not been going their way as of late, but whether or not they cruise or limp into their first round matchup with the Los Angeles Kings, this is a team that's still very dangerous no matter who is on the ice for them.