Already unsure of where the team was going to go with the Josh Archibald situation, things might have gotten a bit more confusing for the Edmonton Oilers. Archibald is the unvaccinated player for the Oilers that has made a decision about his future with the organization unclear. If he can’t travel with the team, he’ll miss their games in the United States. If he does travel, he must quarantine for 14 days upon return, thus miss a number of games. It’s somewhat of a lose/lose situation and the team was hoping he would make a decision about his vaccination shots this week.
Unfortunately, it might not matter. News out of the Oilers organization is that, while he’s continually tested negative for COVID, Archibald has contracted a mysterious illness that is slowing down any possible return, even hurting his chances of getting a vaccine shot if he wanted to get one.
Head coach Dave Tippett told reporters Wednesday that Archibald is getting blood work done to try and solve a mysterious medical issue. He explained:
Arch has skated for a few days and is having some tests done. He just can’t seem to get himself up to speed, he’s not feeling like he should be. The last couple days he’s had some testing done and we’re waiting for the results of that. He’s just not getting up to speed like he should be, so we just want to check where he’s at. He’s set back a couple days here.
While the priority seemed to be how to potentially replace Archibald’s production on the Oilers roster or what to do with his contract if they ruled him out for the season, the focus has now shifted to the 28-year-old forward’s health.
Oilers Could Get Cap Relief
As for what this means for the players, if Archibald doesn’t return, the door is opened for Colton Sceviour to take his spot on the team and if the Oilers can place Archibald on LTIR, it does resolve some of their cap concerns. As Puck Pedia points out, if Archibald starts the year on IR, the Oilers could have an opening roster of 23 healthy + Alex Stalock and Archibald on IR, plus Oscar Klefbom on LTIR which puts them $4.13M over the cap. But, it sets LTIR pool w/in $33K of max possible. They could then move Stalock to LTIR and be able to exceed cap by $4.92 million this year.
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