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Draisaitl Injury Timeline: Oilers GM Offers Possible Playoff Update

Originally posted on NHL Trade Talk | Last updated Mar 18, 2026 11:02 AM ET

As per a post by NHL insider Elliotte Friedman , “Oilers GM Stan Bowman on Leon Draisaitl: If everything goes as scheduled, he should be back at the end of the regular season. Does not need surgery.”

This is the silver lining in what is otherwise terrible news for the team. Arguably, the second-best player in the world is out as the Oilers try to secure a playoff spot. The Oilers will need to rally and come together without him, in the hope that he’s back if the team secures a postseason spot.

If Draisaitl can return for the playoffs, that has to be seen as a huge win right now. Head coach Kris Knoblauch couldn’t confirm anything beyond, “the language we’re using right now is regular season.” He then said the team would reevaluate things at the playoffs and go from there. That open-ended response had the media looking around at each other and asking, what exactly does that mean?

Many thought the Oilers were just playing it safe. Either they didn’t want to say something out of turn, or they didn’t want to jump ahead and be presumptuous about getting into the playoffs. What seemed clear was that Knoblauch wasn’t tipping his hand about how long the Draisaitl absence could be.

If there’s a chance for him to play playoff games, he will. This won’t be the first time Draisaitl has gone out there at less than 100 percent, and he’s been extremely effective when doing so. Right now, fans are being told he won’t play the final 16 games of the season. That’s all anyone knows. Beyond that, things are up in the air.

Edmonton picked up a 5-3 win over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, with the group stepping up and getting scoring from different places. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Connor Murphy, Vasily Podkolzin, and Max Jones got the goals for the Oilers.

This article first appeared on NHL Trade Talk and was syndicated with permission.

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