The Edmonton Oilers shared unfortunate news on Thursday as center/winger Ryan Nugent-Hopkins didn’t skate with the team on Thursday and isn’t slated to fly out with the team as they play the Vancouver Canucks on Friday or the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday.
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Nugent-Hopkins has missed the last couple of games with an injury. The hope was that some time off with postponed games would be all he’d need to rest and return to the lineup, but due to perceived concussion issues, he will not be playing in the next couple of contests for Edmonton. This is, of course, is the Oilers even travel to Vancouver. Dustin Neilson of TSN 1260 writes, “Hearing some rumblings that the Oilers aren’t flying anywhere today.”
The Canucks have spoken with the league about how quickly they’re returning to playing after the team was decimated by the COVID-19 virus.
Mark Spector of Sportsnet writes, “Nugent-Hopkins (concussion, we believe) will not make the trip to VAN (maybe) and WPG, Tippett said. He skated for about 45 minutes on Wednesday, but was kept off the ice today.” Nugent-Hopkins has been sidelined since April 7. The 28-year-old has 12 goals and 28 points in 40 games this season.
For Nugent-Hopkins, this season is turning into a bit of a disaster and at the absolute wrong time. This is a player who needed a big season to prove his value in a flat cap economy and he’s not produced at his normal level and been fairly unproductive at 5-on-5 play this season. A lengthy injury won’t help his case for a high ask as a pending UFA.
Update: Canucks Game Postponed
As per Elliotte Friedman, the Friday game against Vancouver has been officially postponed and it’s not clear when a makeup game will be scheduled. Edmonton will fly out a day later to take on the Jets. Five of the Oilers 14 games remaining are scheduled against the Canucks. We’ll see if they get them all in.
Next: Canucks Comment On New Schedule, Games to be Postponed Again?
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