In Leon's case, the worst aspect of his injury occurred in game 6 of the LA series. Had that not happened he would have been much more himself. Nurse was hurt in the last week of the season. Had he had the same injury in February he probably goes on LTIR. JP did sit out a month.
If you replace Draisiatl with Jake Virtanen that is a massive change to the team. It impacts more than just the difference between the two player's skill. It has a profound impact on the pp for example and it takes away a lot of the flexibility. If there is a legitimate need to use LTIR you do so. But resting a star with a minor injury is not a legitimate option. This is especially true since LTIR can trigger an insurance claim which you had better be able to justify.
Draisaitl was injured, inferenced from my fine tuned viewing perception, playing against Colorado and then again, perhaps compounding the overall soreness and damage, against Anaheim. I don't recall the date of the games off hand but both occurrences were during the regular season.
A wonky knee can be a contributing factor to a high ankle sprain when the player doesn't have the ability to properly brace himself at the time of an illegal blindsided take down. Leon was nowhere near 100%, in my opinion, headed into the L.A. playoff series. Of course neither was Nurse.
The first we heard about Nurse getting injured was the hip flexor, late in the season. Maybe it's wishful thinking on my part believing he may have been banged up earlier during the year, because he played rather shitily for most of the season.
JP played extremely well to start the season. He was at a different level than most posters recall the player performing at early on during the season. Something unspecified happened to him between that time and when he tweaked himself during the awkward tap-in goal from McDavid. He never regained the form he displayed earlier.
I don't think Virtanen could replace Draisaitl's minutes. I refer to having enough affordable team depth to cope with an injury to one of the best players in the NHL.
I look to Pittsburgh's successful seasons with Crosby, Malkin and Letang. Regarding how many games missed to injury by their elite players and who stepped up to fill in to keep the club rolling along. Their club depth as the blueprint for the depth the Edmonton Oilers need to acquire to become a championship caliber team.
I do believe Tippett's system, or the lack therefore of, helped contribute to injuries, and there possibly may have been more if the coaching change wasn't made. There was no cohesiveness. What first comes to mind is Yamamoto forechecking and getting cranked into the boards when there was no set positioning from his linemates. Even if he wins the battle, and retrieves the puck there wasn't anyone he could distribute it to. Wasted energy.
I hope Oilers management and coaching staff devise a super intelligent plan to rotate our defensive corps involving as many players as possible. We could develop a bunch of young NHL defensemen while simultaneously assuring that we have a rested and healthy defensive core heading into the postseason.
