After missing the past six games due to a left quad injury Connor McDavid will be back in the Edmonton Oilers lineup on Sunday night when they visit the Los Angeles Kings.
Oilers coach Dave Tippett announced the news on Sunday afternoon, and said his superstar center will be playing on a line -- at least to start -- between Sam Gagner and Alex Chiasson.
The Oilers ended up going 3-2-1 in McDavid’s absence, collecting seven out of a possible 12 points in the standings during that stretch. All things considered, that’s not a bad showing given how thin the roster is outside of their top handful of players and with all of the other injuries they have been dealing with. James Neal, Oscar Klefbom, and Kris Russell are all currently sidelined for the Oilers.
Edmonton enters Sunday’s game in third place in the Pacific Division, just one point back of the Vancouver Canucks for the second spot and only three points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for the top spot, while still having two games in hand.
The biggest reason the Oilers were able to stay competitive in McDavid’s absence was the near superhuman play of their other superstar forward, Leon Draisaitl. He enters Sunday’s game as the league’s leading scorer with 97 points (35 goals, 62 assists) in 61 games. He has a nine point lead over Boston Bruins winger David Pastrnak despite having played in two fewer games. Draisaitl scored four goals and 12 total points in the six games McDavid missed.
Rookie forward Kailer Yamamoto has also been great recently with four goals and nine points over the past six, while also averaging a point per game (20 points in 20 games) for the season.
McDavid enters Sunday’s game with 81 points (30 goals, 51 assists) in 55 games.
Now that McDavid is back in the lineup, the focus for the Oilers has to shift to getting him some help before Monday’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline. It is great to have him back in the lineup, but concerning that the best offensive player in the world is skating between two wingers that are best suited for bottom-six depth roles.
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Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.
