Dazed, Ekholm stayed on the ice and needed help off it, wobbly as he tried to find his legs underneath him.<\/p>\n
He spoke Tuesday for the first time, saying that, as bad as it looked, he felt fine soon after.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a funky one. I\u2019ve never, knock on wood, had a concussion in my career so far,\u201d said the blue liner. \u201cIt was scary at first; my legs just kind of gave out, and I couldn\u2019t really get up to just sit on my knees.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut as soon as I got down the tunnel, it was kind of like somebody flipped the light switch on it, and I was kind of back to normal \u2014 no headache, no symptoms, no nothing. When you get his like that, you\u2019ve got to go through the protocol and all of that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I got an angel watching over me or something on that one, because it could have been a lot worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
The defenceman returned to Oilers practice on Tuesday, returning to his spot on the top pairing alongside Evan Bouchard, saying he\u2019s cleared protocol, indicating he\u2019s likely to return to the lineup Wednesday<\/a> against the Calgary Flames<\/a>. He won\u2019t be the only player who appears ready to return, however, as Jason Dickinson was also on the ice, centring the fourth line alongside Isaac Howard and Mathieu Joseph.<\/p>\n While head coach Mike Babcock was non-committal about Dickinson returning Wednesday, the veteran centre said he was.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m feeling good,\u201d he said on Tuesday. \u201cAlthough it wasn\u2019t my ankle, it\u2019s kind of connected all together in the lack of reps and being able to get everything to the point that I would normally like it to be at the end of the summer.<\/p>\n \u201cSo this time, take an abundance of caution, make sure I\u2019m definitely ready to go so that I\u2019m not constantly in and out of the lineup, because nobody wants that.\u201d<\/p>\n The Oilers also saw other lineup changes in practice Tuesday. With Zach Hyman out after leaving Monday\u2019s loss to the Detroit Red Wings, Colton Dach slid up to the left wing on the second line alongside Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Kasperi Kapanen, looking comfortable for what might\u2019ve been the first time this season. The abundance of injuries early this year had him playing up the middle, but Babcock was happy with what he saw of him on the wing.<\/p>\n Edmonton\u2019s third line, which had been bleeding defensively, saw a change, as Owen Michaels centred Trent Frederic and both Alex Formenton and Filip Hallander, who rotated in on the opposite wing.<\/p>\n On the blue line, Jake Walman found himself the odd-man out with Ekholm returning, as Ryan Shea and Connor Murphy skated on the second pair, and Shakir Mukhamadulllin \u2014 who had a great game on the top pair with Bouchard Monday \u2014 skated on the third pair with Ty Emberson.<\/p>\n Zach Laing is the managing editor at Daily Faceoff Edmonton and news director at The Nation Network. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing<\/a>, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.PRESENTED BY LeaseBusters![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793154610_324_image.webp\"\/)
<\/a>LeaseBusters is Canada\u2019s premier lease takeover marketplace, helping drivers get out of their current vehicle leases without costly penalties or negative equity. Instead of paying thousands to break a lease, sellers connect with qualified buyers ready to take it over\u2014saving money and avoiding financial stress. Buyers benefit from shorter-term commitments and often better monthly payments, while dealerships retain a replacement customer and leasing companies keep contracts active. It\u2019s a smarter, more efficient solution for everyone involved. Four parties, four wins\u2014only with LeaseBusters. For more information, check out www.LeaseBusters.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oilers\u2019 Ekholm clears protocol after hitting head on ice: \u2018I think I got an angel watching over me\u2019…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":948859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-948858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948858","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=948858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/948858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/948859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=948858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=948858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=948858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}