Players in the NHL playoffs play through all sorts of issues. In fact, history has shown that it’s rare for any NHL’er to be completely healthy as their team makes a run through what is widely known as the most rigorous set of playoff games in any sport. And, Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers might be the latest to be nursing an issue that few people, if any knew about until video of him at practice surfaced on Thursday.
TSN’s Ryan Rishaugh posted footage of McDavid shaking off what looks to be a leg injury. He tweeted, “Playoff time, everyone is nursing something. 97 shaking off what looks to be a sore leg at practice today.” In the video, you can see McDavid skating gingerly and seemingly grimacing as he takes part in normal drills.
As for when the injury happened, that’s not entirely clear. McDavid has been targeted by the Los Angeles Kings all series, specifically Drew Doughty who claimed ahead of the playoffs that if the Kings had an opportunity to smack McDavid and get retribution for what they thought was a boarding offense in the regular season on Mikey Anderson, they would do so. Bruce McCurdy of the Edmonton Journal tweeted, “The Doughty hit in Game 3 is the prime suspect.”
Rishaug is taking a bit of criticism on social media for posting the video. Some are suggesting that releasing this publicly only tells the Kings that McDavid might have an issue they could target.
Frank Seravalli noted that when he checked in to ask about an injury, the Oilers told him there wasn’t one. During a video posted on Twitter, Servalli said, “He’s not hurt, at least when I last checked in a couple days ago to ask the exact same question.” He added that McDavid is still flying. McDavid noted during an interview with the media on Thursday that it’s nice to have time for rest.
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