Prior to the Edmonton Oilers game against the Montreal Canadiens, Kris Knoblauch gave a morning update on Darnell Nurse, and it appears he’s set to miss some time to recover. Nurse was hit in the head by Ryan Reaves, who’s since been suspended, and missed the rest of the Oilers game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Subsequent events for Edmonton included roster transactions that saw the team calling up defenceman Josh Brown from the Bakersfield Condors. Included in the update from Knoblauch, the Oilers will continue to go with 11 forwards and seven defencemen for their game roster with Viktor Arvidsson remaining sidelined.
Knoblauch on Nurse
Here’s everything Knoblauch said regarding Nurse:
He’ll be out. He’s not playing tonight. It’ll be five to ten days. Obviously there was a big scare there… but since then he’s progressed really well, he’s doing as good as he can. Obviously we’ll take our time and make sure that he’s ready when he does return.
Knoblauch on Brown
And more insights on the Brown call-up:
He’s obviously playing really well, been contributing to their success, been really physical. Obviously a little shutdown defenceman who takes up a lot of space but also, you know, the physicality and also has had some fights down there.
Thoughts on the Reaves suspension
And of course there has to be the coach’s perspective on the suspension.
As a coach, you just wish it never happened and I guess no punishment could be severe enough, in our opinion. But I think the NHL handled it well and we’re obviously just worried about Darnell and wish that hadn’t happened, but it is what it is.
Ultimately good news for Edmonton
You can watch the full media availability from Knoblauch here, but the biggest update was obviously that Nurse is recovering well immediately following the injury. Head injuries are always scary so knowing the team doesn’t expect this to be a long-term absence is good news.
Photo by Curtis Comeau/Icon Sportswire
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