March 17 Update: 12:45 pm:

The Edmonton Oilers released a statement on Draisaitl's injury status in the afternoon on Tuesday. "Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season after sustaining a lower-body injury in the first period of the team's game versus Nashville on March 15."

There is a chance he can return for the playoffs, assuming the Oilers can secure their spot without him in the lineup. 

Leon Draisaitl has officially been ruled out tonight as the Edmonton Oilers host the San Jose Sharks. The Oilers, 7-6-1 the last two years without him in the lineup, will try to pick up another win (Edmonton beat Nashville on Sunday) over the Macklin Celebrin-led squad that is becoming one of the NHL's more dangerous young teams. 

The last time Edmonton played the Sharks, San Jose squeaked out a 5-4 victory. 

As for the roster Edmonton will ice to combat Celebrini, the centres will be Connor McDavid, Jason Dickinson, Josh Samanski, and Adam Henrique. There was some expectation that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would move up to center the second line, but head coach Kris Knoblauch is going to go another direction. 

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Draisaitl sustained a lower-body injury in a 3-1 win against the Nashville Predators on Sunday. He left the game after taking a hit from Predators forward Ozzy Wiesblatt at 4:20 of the first period, returned for two shifts toward the end of the period, but did not return for the remainder of the game.

"We'll have some more information if not later tonight, then probably tomorrow, exactly how long he'll be," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said after the morning skate on Monday. On Tuesday, it was confirmed that Draisaitl would not be going. "Draisaitl won't play tonight, and we will know more on his timeline tonight or tomorrow," added Knoblauch on Tuesday.

"Obviously, he's a top-four scorer, one of the most elite players in the League, so it's not like one guy can just step into his shoes," forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. "We kind of talked about it this morning; it's a collective thing with our group that everybody's going to need a to pick up the slack."  

The Oilers (33-26-9) are third in the Pacific Division, one point behind the Vegas Golden Knights and two back of the Anaheim Ducks.

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