Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid is set to return to action a week earlier than initially expected.
After suffering an ankle injury in late October against the Columbus Blue Jackets, the initial prognosis was that McDavid would miss two to three weeks of action as he recovered. Yet, a little over a week later, he is suiting back up for an NHL game.
It’s another case of McDavid showing an exceptional ability to recover from injuries. He met with the media this morning to chat about his ahead-of-schedule return.
“I feel good — looking forward to going and getting back in there,” McDavid said. “Pretty lucky, it was not very good initially, and things have turned the corner really, really quickly, and it feels good.
“I can only tell you how it feels; it feels really good. I’m not part of the media team doing the media releases.”
“Feel good. Looking forward to going & getting back in there.”
Connor McDavid on returning to the #Oilers lineup tonight against the Golden Knights.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/uZuXJvqwSn
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 6, 2024
It’s interesting to hear McDavid describe his initial reaction to the injury. By the sounds of it, there was a sense that this could be a much more serious injury than it initially appeared on the ice.
McDavid detailed some of his thoughts when he initially boarded that plane from Nashville to Edmonton to get tests done.
“I felt not very good about it,” McDavid said. “Ultimately, sometimes, it can feel bad, swell up and stuff, but it can clear out pretty quick. It’s something that I’ve had a little bit before, and maybe it’s a tweak of an old injury. I don’t know. Feels good, though.”
A lot of fans will worry that McDavid is potentially rushing back to the lineup before his injury is finished healing. That could have the potential for an even worse situation to flare up if he aggravates his ankle in a game.
McDavid addressed those concerns as well.
“I’m really confident. If I wasn’t confident, I wouldn’t [be] preparing to play,” McDavid said. “I’m confident with the doc’s opinions, confident with listening to my body and telling me what feels good and what doesn’t and ultimately, together we feel it’s safe to come back and play.”
That is certainly good news for the Oilers, especially after the team did not do too badly without their captain. Edmonton went 2-1-0 in the three games McDavid missed and seemed to get a little bit of their groove back, outside of Monday night’s 3-0 loss to the New Jersey Devils.
McDavid will have a new linemate up on the Oilers’ top line tonight, and we’ll see if he can spark some chemistry in his first game back.