{"id":602577,"date":"2026-04-14T03:22:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T03:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/602577\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T03:22:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T03:22:27","slug":"oilers-draisaitl-feeling-good-on-injury-recovery-im-not-there-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/602577\/","title":{"rendered":"Oilers\u2019 Draisaitl feeling good on injury recovery: \u2018I\u2019m not there yet\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leon Draisaitl says he\u2019s feeling pretty good, but there still needs to be time before he returns to the Edmonton Oilers<\/a> lineup.\u00a0The Oilers second leading scorer spoke to the media<\/a> on Monday after participating in practice on the fifth line. Draisaitl\u00a0started skating early last week on his road to recovery, but didn\u2019t give too many details on the extent of the issue.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel fine. Obviously, it\u2019s progress, and there\u2019s a timeline, and I kind of have to follow that. But all in all, I feel pretty good. And it\u2019s just one day at a time,\u201d said Draisaitl.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are steps that I have to follow, and there are certain things that I have to be able to do, and I\u2019m not there yet right now. We\u2019ll see how that is by the end of the week, or whenever Game 1 would be.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Draisaitl hasn\u2019t suited up since leaving the first period of the Nashville Predators game on March 15. He could tell right away, after getting jostled along the boards, that something didn\u2019t feel right.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He sought medical treatment<\/a> in Germany in late March from Dr. M\u00fcller-Wohlfahrt, who has treated many global athletes, as well as Auston Matthews.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Known for a high pain tolerance and his history of playing through injuries, this one doesn\u2019t seem like a situation a player can grit his teeth through \u2013 it takes time to heal properly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s certain things that you can play through, and other things that are just, you have to think about your future and the team\u2019s future a little bit. I think our staff and our medical staff and myself, we know how to handle these situations, and we know when it\u2019s good to go and when it\u2019s not,\u201d said Draisaitl.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Coach Kris Knoblauch said<\/a> it would be premature to determine whether Draisaitl could play today if necessary, saying there\u2019s some of the healing process he must go through.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, with skates and the rehab treatments that he\u2019s getting, he\u2019s ready for us. Ideally, it\u2019d be Game 1. If it\u2019s Game 3 or 4, then so be it. We\u2019re going to have to adjust,\u201d Knoblauch told reporters Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know Leon will play through a lot of pain, and he wants to play in the Stanley Cup more than anything, so there\u2019s never a doubt about his will. We\u2019d be very fortunate. We would love to have him Game 1, but we\u2019ll have to wait and find out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fans were given updates on other injured<\/a> Oilers on Monday. Zach Hyman will not play on Monday night against the Colorado Avalanche<\/a> and is \u201cquestionable\u201d for the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, the regular season finale.<\/p>\n

Jason Dickinson will miss the last two games, but little was said by Knoblauch on the nature of his injury. When asked, Knoblauch said it\u2019s possible Dickinson could miss playoff games.<\/p>\n

Max Jones is expected to miss three-to-four weeks after getting hurt against the Kings on Saturday.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Isaac Howard<\/a> has been recalled from the Bakersfield Condors and will suit up in the top-six vs the Avs, on a line with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jack Roslovic.<\/p>\n

Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He\u2019s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Presented by The Nation Network\u2019s Playoff Coverage\"\"<\/a>The Nation Network is your ultimate playoff headquarters. From expert shows and deep-dive articles, to live social updates, analytics, and fantasy insights\u2014we cover every moment. Whether it\u2019s epic goals, big hits, or game-changing plays, we\u2019ve got you covered. One Network. Every moment. Tune in to the Oilersnation<\/a> and Daily Faceoff YouTube channels!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leon Draisaitl says he\u2019s feeling pretty good, but there still needs to be time before he returns to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752],"class_list":["post-602577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602577","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=602577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}