Edmonton Oilers Lose Another Five Players!

The Edmonton Oilers are the latest NHL team to be slammed with a COVID outbreak as news dropped early Saturday afternoon that the team is placing five players and six staff members into protocol.

The players include Kailer Yamamoto, Evan Bouchard, Slater Koekkoek, Brendan Perlini and Ilya Konovalov. The team was slated to play the New York Islanders on Saturday but the game was previously postponed and it's probably good news for the Oilers that it was.

The #Oilers have placed 11 people in COVID protocol, including five players & six members of the support staff.

Players:
🔸Kailer Yamamoto
🔹Evan Bouchard
🔸Slater Koekkoek
🔹Brendan Perlini
🔸Ilya Konovalov https://t.co/CbLIX7J6a3

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 8, 2022

Not only are the Oilers dealing with COVID they have been sliding of late, their goaltending appears to be letting them down and their coach is on the hot seat. As it stands right now Edmonton is supposed to host the Ottawa Senators on Monday and some are calling this game a must-win for head coach Dave Tippett. Surely going to be interesting now as the team will be without a number of players.

The Oilers are barely hanging on to a playoff spot, sitting in the second wild card position in the Western Conference. They have gone 2-6-2 in their past 10, losing two straight heading into Monday's action. Let's hope COVID takes it easy on them before then and they are able to ice a team. 

Photo credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports