It took exactly one game for the perpetual doom that seems to follow the Edmonton Oilers organization to show itself.
The team announced on Thursday that defender Adam Larsson is out for six to eight weeks with a fractured right fibula after suffering the injury during the team’s season opening win against the Vancouver Canucks Wednesday night.
The injury occurred in the first period, but Larsson was still able to play 22 minutes. The team did say the injury will not require surgery. He is expected to miss six to eight weeks.
In his absence, the Oilers have re-called 2018 first-round pick (No. 10 overall) Evan Bouchard.
Larsson’s presence on the Oilers has become a bit of a punchline over the years because he is the only thing the organization has to show for trading 2018 NHL MVP Taylor Hall. While that is certainly a bad look for the previous management team, it is in no way Larsson’s fault. All he can do is be the player that he is, and that player is a pretty solid defender. He may not be a superstar, but he is going to help your team when he is on the ice and he is probably the best defensive player the Oilers have.
The problem for the Oilers is that they do not have enough solid defenders on their blue line to withstand the loss of one of the few they do have. It does open the door for Bouchard to get an opportunity, but if the Oilers were fully comfortable with him as an NHL player at this point he probably would have been able to make this opening night roster to begin with.
Now an already thin defense gets even thinner, which means even more pressure for goalies Mike Smith and Mikko Koskinen.
MORE:
• ProHockeyTalk’s 2019 NHL free agency tracker
• Your 2019-20 NHL on NBC TV schedule
—
Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.