Draisaitl back at Oilers practice, status for start of playoffs uncertain

EDMONTON -- Leon Draisaitl returned to practice with the Edmonton Oilers on Monday, but he remains uncertain about whether he’ll be ready for the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The forward skated with his teammates for the first time since sustaining a lower-body injury during a 3-1 win against the Nashville Predators on March 15. The postseason begins Saturday.

“There’s steps that I have to follow and there are certain things that I have to be able to do,” Draisaitl said. “I’m not there yet right now, so we’ll see how that is by the end of the week or whenever Game 1 would be.”

Draisaitl was injured from a hit by Predators forward Ozzy Wiesblatt at 4:20 of the first period, just 1:08 after he scored the game’s opening goal on the power play. He returned for two shifts at the end of the first but did not play in the second or third.

“I knew there was something wrong right away,” Draisaitl said. “I’m not necessarily a player that goes off like that with every little pinch I feel; I felt that this was something that was a little more serious. You feel it right away, and then I made a decision that made sense.

“Sometimes in the moment it takes a little time until it really kicks in. It felt completely different the next morning, I just wasn’t able to do it.”

The Oilers announced two days later that Draisaitl was expected to miss the remainder of the regular season. He missed his 13th straight game when Edmonton lost 2-1 in a shootout to the Colorado Avalanche on Monday, and he will also be unavailable for the Oilers’ regular-season finale against the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

Draisaitl, who has 97 points (35 goals, 62 assists) in 65 games, traveled to his native Germany roughly a week after sustaining the injury to have it assessed by a specialist. He resumed skating on his own early last week while the Oilers were on a three-game road trip.

Edmonton (40-30-11) is second in the Pacific Division, two points behind the Vegas Golden Knights and one point ahead of the Anaheim Ducks, who have a game in hand.

“He’s got some healing process to go through,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Hopefully with some skates and the rehab treatments that he’s getting, he's ready for us. Ideally, it would be Game 1 (of the playoffs). If it’s Game 3 or 4, then so be it. We’re going to have to adjust.”

Draisaitl has dealt with injuries in previous postseasons. He played through a high ankle sprain sustained in the first round of the 2022 playoffs against the Los Angeles Kings and an upper-body injury in 2024, when the Oilers lost to the Florida Panthers in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

“There’s certain things you can play through and other things that you have think about your future and the team’s future a little bit,” Draisaitl said. “I think our medical staff and myself, we know how to handle these situations and we know when it’s good to (play) and when it’s not. We’ll take it one day at a time and hopefully it works out.

“It’s a little bit of everything; it’s a little bit of feel, how the player feels, if he’s ready to go, and obviously there’s some on-ice stuff that is required to be feeling really good. Once those are all checked off, then I guess it’s kind of up to the medical staff.”

Draisaitl is expected to skate with the Oilers for the rest of the week, which should give him a better indication on a possible return.

“Nobody knows their bodies better than the athlete themselves,” he said. “I know my body better than anyone in the world. I know when I’m ready to go and when I’m forcing it. I’m highly aware of that, and this isn’t an injury that you should force anything with.

“I’m going to see how I feel by the end of the week, and hopefully it feels great and maybe I’m an option (for Game 1) or maybe it’s a couple of games later. We’ll see.”