Edmonton Oilers fans can breathe a little easier knowing Leon Draisaitl will play in their first-round series against the Anaheim Ducks, but the question remains when, exactly.
Draisaitl has been back skating with the team during practice ahead of the series opener, but he and coach Kris Knoblauch have yet to confirm whether he'll play in Game 1.
"That's up to the doctors to say that he's ready to play, he's not at risk of damaging something, so we'll wait for that," Knoblauch said after Friday's practice.
Added Draisaitl on Sunday: "We'll see how it feels tomorrow, and then, yeah, we'll make a call from there."
While Edmonton didn't have him in the homestretch, the offense has continued to roll along. They're going into the playoffs showing there are other names the Ducks need to pay attention to besides Connor McDavid.
The Oilers must respect Anaheim's offense, which has four 20-goal players, including Cutter Gauthier, who scored 41 times.
That said, Edmonton finished the regular season with six players who cracked the 20-goal mark. McDavid led the way with 48, followed by Draisaitl (35), Zach Hyman (31), Jack Roslovic (21), Evan Bouchard (21) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Roslovic nearly matched the career-high 22 goals he scored in 81 games last year with the Carolina Hurricanes. He played 69 games in his first season with the Oilers.
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"I take a lot of pride in being able to bring in scoring from a top-six forward role, a depth role, just really trying to be a Swiss army knife in the lineup," Roslovic said. "It's a lot of great talent here, obviously, it goes without saying that it takes everyone to get individual accolades."
Beyond the 20-goal scorers, Matt Savoie scored a hat trick in the regular-season finale to bring himself up to 18 goals, while Vasily Podkolzin has 19.
The rest of the roster picking up the slack in production at the right time will add a fresh dynamic to this team come Monday night, with or without Draisaitl.
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