After not skating at practice with the Edmonton Oilers yesterday, forward Viktor Arvidsson was officially ruled out for tonight’s game against the Nashville Predators.
The 31-year-old Swede is dealing with an unspecified injury presumably suffered during Tuesday night’s 4-3 OT victory over the New York Islanders. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said yesterday that the injury was not expected to be anything major, yet it appears it is serious enough for Arvidsson to miss at least one game.
“He’s not going to play tonight,” Knoblauch told reporters this morning. “We’re going to go [with] 11 [forwards and] seven [defenceman] and we anticipate him being ready for Saturday.”
“I think we’ll do it collectively. I think there’s a lot of guys that can fill into that, Perry being one of them, but I think there will be some rotation.”
Coach Knoblauch on the #Oilers filling in for Viktor Arvidsson’s absence in the lineup.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/slux5asSI6
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) November 14, 2024
This will obviously lead to changes to how the forward group will be deployed by Knoblauch against the Predators tonight. Arvidsson has been a consistent member of the team’s second line alongside Leon Draisaitl.
Knoblauch mentioned that some players in the bottom six will get a boost in his absence.
“From my standpoint, with the players that we have, it’s easier to run the bench cause there are other guys who need more ice time and other guys who need less,” Knoblauch explained. “We’ll do it collectively, I think there are a lot of guys who can fill in [on that second line].”
One player that Knoblauch mentioned by name for potentially playing on that second line is Corey Perry, who has looked fairly impressive to start the season. This would be the first time this year that Perry would get a bump into the top six after playing there for stretches last season.
Jeff Skinner could also wind up getting back into a top-six role at some point tonight. The former Calder Trophy winner has had mixed results through his first few months as an Oiler and recently found himself on the fourth line during Tuesday night’s game against the New York Islanders.
It shall be an interesting night for the lineup rotation, but if Knoblauch has proven anything during his year on the job, it’s that he has a knack for finding the right solution in these types of situations.