EDMONTON — The Edmonton Oilers will open the season without Ryan Nugent-Hopkins after the versatile centre suffered a lower-body injury at practice Monday. Nugent-Hopkins, who spent training camp centring the second line, will miss Opening Night on Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks in the season opener for both teams, forcing new head coach Mike Babcock to break up his top six.
“Anytime someone leaves practice, you always get a little bit nervous,” new Oilers coach Mike Babcock said of losing Nugent-Hopkins. “It took me a couple hours to bounce back, but we're all good here. Let's get after it.” Babcock said Nugent-Hopkins is considered day-to-day, adding, “Any time they tell me day-to-day, that usually means two weeks, is what I go by,” as he enters his first regular season behind the Oilers bench missing five regulars.
Babcock gave a broader injury update Tuesday morning, noting Jason Dickenson hasn't been able to push it yet, Matt Savoie was about eight weeks away at the start of the week, goalie Frederik Andersen is maybe December, and Mattias Janmark is a ways away. With Nugent-Hopkins out, fourth-line winger Max Jones is expected to draw in alongside rookie Owen Michaels and Trent Frederic. Babcock did not confirm lines before an optional practice, but McDavid is expected to centre Zach Hyman and Ike Howard with Leon Draisaitl between Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen, leaving Colton Dach between Mathieu Joseph and Alex Formenton as the only training camp line unchanged. “That’s just the way injuries unfolded. Just the way it is,” shrugged McDavid. “There are going to be guys asked to do certain things, put in different spots, and that's the nature of this business. It's a long season. It's obviously Day 1, but these things happen throughout the course of the season and we just adjust as we go.”
McDavid and Draisaitl spent the entire training camp together on the top unit but will likely centre separate lines to cover the absence. Babcock framed the early adversity as opportunity. “You can look at it that way, or you can say it’s (an) opportunity for other people,” he said. “We might find a penalty killer. We might find a power-play guy. That's what happens when these things go on. You think you don't have somebody, and then suddenly you’ve got somebody you didn't even know you had.” McDavid added, “It’s just about going through those checkmarks. Going through the captain’s skates, get through training camp, pre-season. … Here we are in the regular season, and we want to get off to a good start, and that's part of the list.”