The Edmonton Oilers will be without Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for about two weeks, and the news landed on the day of the season opener.
Mike Babcock said Nugent-Hopkins suffered an injury in practice, as Elliotte Friedman relayed Tuesday. No injury type came with it.
Notice the word attached to that timeline. "Approximate" is carrying a lot of weight, and September estimates have a nasty habit of stretching once the points count.
Six games fall inside that window, a stretch that runs from tonight's opener against Vancouver through October 13. Every one of them comes against a Pacific Division rival.
The first home date after it closes is October 15 against Utah, assuming the estimate holds.
Who picks up the slack? The Oilers pay Leon Draisaitl $14,000,000 and Connor McDavid $12,500,000 for exactly this kind of problem.
It's like the moving truck showing up without the box marked kitchen. Everything else made it, but dinner gets complicated for a while.
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Mike Babcock confirms major setback for top Oilers player
Babcock coaches his first regular-season game since the Oilers hired him in June, and his opening-night lineup already needs a patch.
The blue line carries serious money too, with Evan Bouchard at $10,500,000. When one piece goes missing, everybody else's minutes start to creep.
The Oilers swept exhibition play at 4-0-0, closing with a 4-1 win over Calgary on Saturday.
The Canucks went 1-3-0 in the preseason but won their final tune-up, 4-3 over Seattle, that same Saturday.
Manny Malhotra is new behind the Vancouver bench as well, hired in June. So both benches are breaking in new systems on night one.
Then comes a quick home-and-home, with the Oilers in Vancouver on Thursday before Seattle visits Saturday.
After that, it's a three-game California trip through Anaheim, San Jose and Los Angeles, the kind of road swing where a thin lineup gets exposed fast.
Babcock gets an early read on his depth whether he wanted one or not. And if "approximate" turns into something longer, that California trip starts looking a lot less friendly.
Can the Oilers survive two weeks without Ryan Nugent-Hopkins?
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