Why Now? Edmonton Medical Doctor Confirmed That the Star player will not return due to Surgery….. ……….

Oilers lose defenseman to injury.
One of the Edmonton Oilers’ defensemen will be out of action for some time.
Edmonton — The Edmonton Oilers defence has experienced ups and downs.

Outside of Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard, the Oilers’ defence has been mediocre at best and awful at worst. Brett Kulak and Vincent Desharnais have been an excellent third pairing, but the issues with Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci have been difficult for the coaching staff to resolve.

Plus minus isn’t the greatest stat to hold as an analytical tool – but it presents a simple argument for the Oilers blue line.

• Ekholm +6
• Bouchard +12
• Kulak +3
• Desharnais -8
• Ceci -7
• Nurse -12
• The Oilers’ defence clearly has to evolve, and they have done so in recent games with the Kulak-Ceci and Nurse-Desharnais combinations.
• 
  However, any prospects of Troy Stecher coming in to replace Ceci are now gone. This morning, Jason Gregor of Sports 1440 tweeted that Stecher will soon undergo ankle surgery. There is currently no known anticipated date or time.
  This would explain why Stecher hasn’t been skating with the squad and isn’t playing. It’s possible that he could have came in sooner if his ankle hadn’t been an issue.
• To win this series, the Oilers may need to entirely change their blue line pairings and inject fresh legs.

  Bookmark The Hockey News Edmonton Oilers club site so you don’t miss any Oilers news, interviews, or updates.