Oilers’ Connor McDavid Expected to Be Out 1-2 Weeks With Upper Body Injury

Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid is expected to be out for “one to two weeks” after suffering an upper body injury Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets.

McDavid did not play during the last four minutes of Saturday’s contest and remained on the bench through overtime. He recorded two assists in the 3-2 OT loss.

The announced timeline puts McDavid’s status for the Oct. 29 Heritage Classic in jeopardy.

The Oilers are 1-3-1 to open the season, a disappointing start for a team built to be a 2024 Stanley Cup contender.

Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said after Saturday’s loss that McDavid’s injury “appears to be muscular,” according to The Athletic’s Daniel Nugent-Bowman.

McDavid appeared to hold his left side or hip while skating on the rush in his final shift late in the third period.

The Sportsnet panel noted McDavid appeared to hold the same side after an awkward first-period collision with Winnipeg Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey. Woodcroft said after the game he didn’t believe the incident, which resulted in a holding penalty for Morrissey, caused McDavid’s injury.

“No, I thought it was more him coming up the ice [in the third period] and something felt off for him,” Woodcroft said Saturday, per NHL.com’s Derek Van Diest. “That’s what it looked like from the bench. But I haven’t even rewatched it yet.”

McDavid has two goals and eight points through his first five games, a relatively slow goalscoring start for the winner of the last three Art Ross Trophies who scored 64 goals in 82 games last season.

The Oilers will lean on Leon Draisaitl in McDavid’s absence, but the team will also need increased production from other underproducing forwards—most notably, Evander Kane has yet to score this season—in order to earn their second win of the season.

Notable games in the upcoming stretch include a contest against the Dallas Stars, another potential Cup contender, on Nov. 2, as well as the outdoor game against the Calgary Flames on Oct. 29

The potential loss of McDavid could be a blow for one of the NHL’s biggest events. The league is heading into the Heritage Classic on a streak of 37 straight outdoor sellouts, per ESPN’s