Bittersweet report confirms Connor McDavid’s recovery time and injury details

It only took 37 seconds for captain Connor McDavid to get injured in the Edmonton Oilers’ 6-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night. On his first shift, he was forced to leave the ice after he was tripped and sent awkwardly into the boards. McDavid appeared to jam his left skate hard into the lower portion of the side boards, and leave the game, never to return.

He flew back on Tuesday from Nashville, where the team was, to Edmonton to consult with the team’s medical staff and get some imaging done on his injury.

It took days to get an update on McDavid’s injury and on Wednesday morning, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman provided the latest on the Oilers superstar. The star centre is expected to miss two to three weeks with a lower-body injury, while we all await final details on the exact timeline.

“Good news as, thankfully, the worst-case scenario is averted with Connor McDavid.

Looking like at least a couple of weeks, but exact timeline TBD.”

The Oilers later confirmed the report, adding that McDavid had sustained an ankle injury and that the timeline is expected to be an absence of two to three weeks. 

While fans can rejoice that we are speaking in weeks and not months, most fans the absence to be quite lengthy at a time when the Oilers desperately need an offensive boost to get back on track after a sluggish start. This is a bittersweet update at a time where Edmonton needs its captain. 

Details will come in later today as to what is expected in his timeline and McDavid needs to do in terms of recovery to come back fully healthy as the Oilers' leader.

Edmonton is just 4-5-1 through 10 games to start the year after making it to the Stanley Cup Final this past June. The club’s .450 points percentage ranks 12th in the Western Conference and 26th league wide.

McDavid had missed just eight games in the past four seasons prior to this lower-body injury. He has three goals and seven assists in 10 games this season.