Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid misses game against Vegas with lower-body injury

Arguably, the best player in the world will not be playing on Wednesday night.

In the lead-up to the Edmonton Oilers’ clash with a division rival, the Vegas Golden Knights, it was revealed that captain Connor McDavid will not be in the lineup.

McDavid was listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury earlier this week, after suffering the ailment late in the third period last Saturday in the Oilers’ 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames.

The Richmond Hill native is having another offensively dominant season, scoring 31 goals and 130 points in 74 games, good for third in the league in scoring behind Tampa Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov and Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche. McDavid is still on pace to become just the fourth player in NHL history to reach 100 assists, with the 2014 first-overall pick sitting at 99 helpers.

McDavid has already missed time this season due to injury, as an upper-body injury held him out of the lineup for a week back in October. However, he returned just in time for the Heritage Classic, coincidentally against the Flames.

McDavid’s play, along with the likes of Leon Draisaitl and Zach Hyman, has helped Edmonton recover from an abysmal start to the 2023-24 campaign, to being in line for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs once again. While losing the team’s star player this close to the postseason is not ideal, some rest might be beneficial for McDavid, with a potential matchup against either the Golden Knights or Los Angeles Kings on the horizon.

After they meet with Vegas, Edmonton will have five more games remaining in the regular season.

The Oilers (47-24-5), who look to make it three wins in a row on Wednesday night, are second in the Pacific, six points ahead of the third-place Kings, and five behind the Vancouver Canucks for first place.