Arvidsson’s Injury Update Leaves Serious Questions for Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers got good news and bad news on Thursday. The good news is they’ll welcome back Zach Hyman to the lineup tonight. The bad news is that uncertainty surrounds the status of Viktor Arvidsson, who has been out for nearly a month. Daily Hive asked head coach Kris Knoblauch for a status update and the bench boss didn’t have one.

Arvidsson, recently named to Team Sweden for the upcoming 4 Nations tournament, was injured during a November 12 game against the New York Islanders. While initial expectations were that he would return quickly, he has now missed nine games and has yet to skate with the team.

“It’s obviously gone on longer than we anticipated,” Knoblauch said. “We thought it would be just a couple days off, but it hasn’t healed as expected.”

As of now, there is no timeline for his return.

Not Good News for the Oilers or Arvidsson

It’s one thing to know how long an injury might take to return from because it’s clear what’s wrong. But, when a player goes out and is expected to miss a couple of days but then remains out for weeks, it’s a concern. No one seems to know what’s wrong with Arvidsson and the Oilers certainly aren’t sharing what the delay is.

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Arvidsson, one of the Oilers’ key offseason acquisitions, was expected to provide Leon Draisaitl with a shoot-first winger. Instead, his inconsistency when in the lineup and now an injury that’s keeping him out means things have not gone according to plan.

Is this something that gets to a point where Arvidsson is an LTIR consideration? Will the team learn that this lingering issue is more than meets the eye? And, if so, are the Oilers planning to make moves to fill the hole Arvidsson leaves behind while out of the lineup?

Meanwhile, Draisaitl has been skating with new linemates Vasily Podkolzin and Connor Brown. Tonight, Kasperi Kapanen will join Draisaitl’s line as Brown gets pushed down the lineup.

Next: Hyman Back on Oilers Top Line Drastically Alters Scoring Dynamic