Connor McDavid surprisingly returns for a crucial road trip. The Oilers also activate Henrique and call up Savoie, shaking up the lineup.
It wasn't expected that Connor McDavid would play the first game back after the Olympic break... but things change.
The Edmonton Oilers are in Anaheim for the start of a three-game California road trip, and McDavid, who captained Team Canada to a silver medal (earning tournament MVP honors with 2 goals and 11 assists), returned to the ice on Wednesday. He participated in the morning skate and later confirmed he'll be in the lineup.
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Multiple sources, including one from head coach Kris Knoblauch on Monday suggested McDavid would take a little time. Likely jet-lagged and mentally fatigued from the tournament (and the heartbreaking loss) it would have been understanable if he'd sat one out.
Instead, he's suiting up as the top-line center alongside Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman. He even directly answered "Yup" when asked if he's playing. He added, "It starts with a big road trip here. ... There's only a handful of weeks left, and we haven't secured anything, so we've got to find a way to get going here."
The game, an 8:30 PM MST (10:30 PM ET) start time, is one of many the Oilers will want to win and use as a benchmark to get their game back on track. The team went into the break on a low, one so troubling that the organization chose to bring Paul Coffey back behind the bench to help coach the defense.
McDavid's return strengthens their lineup significantly as they look to climb in the Pacific Division standings (Oilers at 28-22-8 heading in). "We’re going to have to play with some desperation & some really good hockey down the stretch,' said Knoblauch as he took questions from the media after the morning skate.
Oilers Make a Couple of Additional Roster Moves
The Oilers activated forward Adam Henrique from long-term injured reserve and called up Matt Savoie from the AHL.
The Oilers were under the cap and not using LTIR, so activating Henrique had no cap impact. At the same time, the Oilers accrued just enough space to call up Savoie as of today. After calling him up, they're left with $10K of Current Cap Space, which will grow to $12K by the deadline if no roster moves are made.
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