Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers missed the team's last game, a 6-1 drubbing on home ice at the hands of the Ottawa Senators. Draisaitl's absence from Saturday's game was explained as an eye injury and, ahead of the game, he was listed as day to day. There is an update with his playing status as NHL.com reported on Monday that Draisaitl has "concussion-like symptoms" that he "sustained during the first period of a 5-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 9." That news, which has been buzzing in previous days, has landed Draisaitl on injury reserve.

Injury news compounds Edmonton's woes

The news comes at a time when the Edmonton Oilers are a team in a little bit of turmoil. After winning their opening game over the Calgary Flames, Edmonton has struggled. They will enter Tuesday's contest against the Carolina Hurricanes as just a 1-3-0 team. Missing Draisaitl could hurt the Oilers for as long as he is out of action. He was among the team's top scorers last season as he tallied 77 points and appeared in all 82 games that Edmonton played.

The news of the injury comes with a tough patch of games to be played for the balance of October. While not much is expected of Carolina this season, Edmonton will travel to Chicago, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh in their next three games.

Before the end of the month Edmonton will also face both the Dallas Stars and the Washington Senators. The upcoming stretch of games truly represent a difficult time in Edmonton's schedule. It is not a great time to be missing one of their stronger skaters.

Edmonton, struggling to score, has to adjust

Furthermore, Draisaitl hitting the injury reserve comes at a time when the Oilers are in the midst of an offensive dip. Since scoring three against Calgary to open the season, Edmonton have not scored as many in any individual game.

In their last contest they managed just one goal and thus far the Oilers are one of the disappointments of the early NHL season. That said, when the schedule has only seen four games played, matters can be unfairly magnified. If Edmonton play well for the balance of the month then they could finish with a strong record heading into November.

As for line changes, Edmonton fans might be happy that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was not traded. His name has been central to trade gossip over the last several months. "Nuge"will likely emerge as the second-line centerman now, skating alongside wingers Ryan Strome and Milan Lucic. Edmonton's first power-play unit will probably feature Lucic, Strome, Oscar Klefbom, Connor McDavid, and Mark Letestu. The first line of the power-play unit has struggled thus far this season and is one area that could be isolated for improvement if the Oilerse are to improve their results.
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