There were whispers things weren’t looking good for Edmonton Oilers’ prospect Dylan Holloway when it came to his injury situation. Something wasn’t setting properly or healing as it should and it was announced on Wednesday that the forward has undergone another surgery to correct the original problem and will be out three months.
Related: Zack Kassian Not Conceding Top-Six Spot on Oilers Roster
This is certainly not ideal news and Reid Wilkins of 630 CHED writes: “Ken Holland says Holloway’s injury had healed very little since his first surgery in the spring. In early August, Holloway was still having trouble shooting and taking face-offs. Yesterday’s surgery was done by a hand specialist in Edmonton.”
This could lead to the Oilers making a couple of reactionary moves. Either the team looks at another left wing option out of Bakersfield and gives that player a legitimate shot to make the team — see Cooper Marody or Tyler Benson — or the team tries to add another player via a PTO or in free agency that can come in an compete for a spot.
Holloway Could Still Find Himself Playing for the Oilers This Season
Holloway missing the first two months of the season doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll not be playing with the Oilers in 2021-22. It just means the team will be forced to give him more time to season in the minors. He’ll rehab (or wait for his injury to heal), then he’ll get some conditioning time and reps in the minors before he makes the jump to the NHL. It’s not the worst thing to have this happen, even if the circumstances around why it’s happening are not ideal.
He was one of the first prospects that felt like perhaps the Oilers were hurrying him to the NHL since Ken Holland took over the team. Holland has a tendency to overripen prospects and Holloway might have bucked that trend if he’d had a good camp. This removes the pressure of putting him in too soon.
The bigger concern is that wrist and hand injuries are scary for NHL players. If they don’t heal properly, they can plague a player’s career. The team is hoping that by getting him back in now, doing the surgery and opting to have it heal right the second time around, they can avoid long-term damage that bothers him moving forward.
Next: GM Ken Holland Says Oilers “Time is Now”
