Draisaitl was so hurt in playoffs Oilers were unsure he'd be playing

The Edmonton Oilers fell one game short of winning the Stanley Cup this year, but it wasn’t due to a lack of trying.

And, as it turns out, one of the most important players on the team was battling through injuries so severe that his own head coach wasn’t sure if he’d be able to play through it.

“Leon was battling things throughout the playoffs,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said today at the team’s locker cleanout session. “Ribs, hands… there were times when I thought he may not play.”

According to a recent report from Zach Laing of Oilersnation, Draisaitl was playing through a broken finger and a broken rib, the latter of which was believed to be suffered in the second round of the playoffs against the Vancouver Canucks.

Draisaitl put up 106 points in 81 regular season games while adding 31 points via 10 goals and 21 assists in 25 playoff contests.

Laing also reported that Oilers captain Connor McDavid was playing through an abdominal injury that will likely require surgery.

McDavid finished the playoffs with eight goals and 34 assists along the way, the latter of which set an NHL postseason record, besting Wayne Gretzky’s 31 in 1988.

He became just the second skater ever to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs’ most valuable player while playing on a team that didn’t win the Stanley Cup.

“With Connor’s injury, I’m not sure what the process will be or how bad it was,” Knoblauch added, saying that was a better question for the team’s medical staff.

McDavid is one of three finalists for the NHL’s Hart Trophy as the regular season’s Most Valuable Player, which is set to be announced tomorrow in Las Vegas.

With a long summer ahead but the shortest offseason of their NHL careers, here’s to hoping both of the Oilers’ marquee players are healthy once the action starts up again this fall.

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