![\"Connor](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/GettyImages-2253220042-e1771963756225.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Oilers have released unfortunate injury news. <\/p>\n
The 2026 Winter Olympics have officially concluded, and most of the NHL players who took part in the international tournament for the first time since 2014 have either returned or are close to returning to their respective clubs to continue the 2025-26 NHL season.<\/p>\n
Edmonton Oilers<\/a> team captain Connor McDavid returns to Edmonton somewhat empty-handed, carrying a silver medal with him despite having had aspirations of winning the gold for Team Canada.<\/p>\n The painful runner-up finish is reminiscent of how the last two campaigns for the Oilers have come to a close at the hands of the Florida Panthers<\/a> (who feature Team USA forward Matthew Tkachuk) in the Stanley Cup Final.<\/p>\n However, as the Oilers gear up for what they hope is another deep postseason run in an attempt to match the Panthers in three straight Stanley Cup Final appearances, they\u2019re already facing some adversity on the health front.<\/p>\n McDavid, who has yet to miss a regular-season game this season, won\u2019t be ready to resume the schedule with the rest of his Oilers teammates against the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch indicated that McDavid likely won\u2019t be able to be back any time soon.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I guess it all depends on numerous things,\u201d he said<\/a>. \u201cPlaying in the back-to-back would be difficult, and for him to play 23-24 minutes in back-to-back games after the Olympics, travelling from Europe? I don\u2019t think that\u2019s putting him in a very good position to help us.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo, we\u2019ll have to lean on other guys a lot more and hopefully he is healthy by the weekend to step right into the lineup.\u201d<\/p>\n During the gold medal game against Team USA, which secured their first gold medal since 1980, McDavid was seen with several fingers taped, suggesting he may have been dealing with a hand injury.<\/p>\n ____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Connor McDavid Isn\u2019t The Only Edmonton Oilers Player Who Will Be Absent<\/p>\n McDavid isn\u2019t the only player who won\u2019t be able to play on Wednesday night for the Oilers.<\/p>\n Forward Kasperi Kapanen, who has already missed 39 games this season because of an injury, won\u2019t be available either.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not sure if he\u2019ll be ready for the first two games,\u201d said Knoblauch of Kapanen. \u201cIt might be later in the week, but he\u2019s feeling okay. Whether he\u2019s ready for these first two games after missing such a long time, I guess we\u2019ll find out, but right now we\u2019re thinking it\u2019s probably not going to be the first two games.\u201d<\/p>\n ____________________________________________________________<\/p>\n Veteran Adam Henrique Is Set To Return For The Oilers<\/p>\n However, the news isn\u2019t all bad for the Oilers. Veteran forward Adam Henrique, who hasn\u2019t played since early January after getting hurt blocking a shot, is set to return to the lineup.<\/p>\n \u201cThe timing of everything kind of saved me a few weeks of missing more time, which has been good,\u201d Henrique said.<\/p>\n \u201cI was able to skate before the break and get to a level where we\u2019re comfortable, and then just trying to maintain that through the break,\u201d he continued. \u201cHaving this whole week has been great too, getting up to speed, getting back into practice. We\u2019re able to work on things and talk about things in our game that we want to improve or change.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMichael Whitaker<\/a> Michael Whitaker is a sports journalist based in metro Detroit with nearly a full decade of experience with publications like Clutch Points and The Hockey News. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism from Eastern Michigan University. More about Michael Whitaker<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Oilers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Oilers have released unfortunate injury news. The 2026 Winter Olympics have officially concluded, and most of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497362,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":{"0":"post-497361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-edmonton"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/497362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}