Two Key Oilers Now Expected To Start Camp On The Shelf Due to Injuries

We've been hearing for much of the summer that Evander Kane is a likely casualty for training camp for the Edmonton Oilers, and is likely to start the season on injured reserve. But now we can add another key name to the list of walking wounded for the Oilers ahead of the start of camp.

Hearing that Evander Kane & Darnell Nurse are expected to start training camp on the shelf due to injury.

Nurse has been on the ice for informal skates & continues to heal up a lingering injury from the playoffs. The projection is he will be good to go later in camp.
— Tom Gazzola (@TomGazzola) September 11, 2024

Tom Gazzola of Edmonton Sports Talk reports that defenseman Darnell Nurse will miss the start of camp due to an injury he suffered in the playoffs that he continues to.. uh.. nurse back to health.

The injury appears to have happened in Game 2 when he was hammered into the boards by Panthers forward Evan Rodrigues. Nurse played only four minutes in that game, though he did fight back and play the rest of the series, battling through it.

Nurse is expected to be ready to go later in camp.

Kane's return, on the other hand, is still a big unknown. Insider Elliotte Friedman reported back in August that the gritty forward could be forced to undergo surgery. He had played through a sports hernia for most of the 2023-24 season, and missed five games during the Oilers playoff run to the Stanley Cup Final.

There was some speculation that Kane may even go on LTIR, but that is not needed right now, at least for cap compliance purposes, after other moves that GM Stan Bowman made this summer.