Oilers News: Insider Updates Long-Term Status of McDavid & Draisaitl Injuries

The Edmonton Oilers hosted the Seattle Kraken Saturday night without the services of either of their superstars, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. That, we know. But is there any worry that these injuries could be long-term issues for the Oilers to worry about? Insider Elliotte Friedman provided an update on his Hockey Night in Canada 'Headlines':

The word at this point in time is that there are no worries that these will be long-term ailments (or) that they will threaten their playoff availability in any way... No concern about their long-term availability.
As of today, it appears that Leon Draisaitl's timeline is ahead of Connor McDavid's, and the belief is that Draisaitl may return before McDavid. But I've been warned that McDavid has blown past injury timelines before.

#97 underwent an MRI on Friday after getting cross-checked in the midsection by Josh Morrissey on Thursday night.

Connor McDavid is done for the night after sustaining a lower-body injury. pic.twitter.com/hgg3QDlhS6
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 21, 2025

Draisaitl has missed a couple of games now with his own undisclosed injury.

But Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch was looking on the bright side earlier on Saturday, as he said that "a little break" would be a good thing for the two superstars. With the playoffs less than a month away, getting them a bit of a rest couldn't hurt.

"Maybe this will be good for (McDavid) to have some downtime (after playing through the 4 Nations tournament). But I think for our team, just to dig in and know that we can win hockey games without these guys. It's going to be more difficult, but if we can do that, missing two of the best hockey players, I think it's good for our team morale."