Kids Not Okay in Edmonton?

The Flames and the Oilers played game four of their six-game season series on Saturday night and there was a couple of stories about the Oilers young stars that emerged out of it all.  The Oilers ended up scratching Magnus Paajarvi before the game, leaving him out of the key divisional and inter-Provincial match-up.  Of course, that wasn't the biggest news, as Jordan Eberle was knocked out of the game with an ankle injury, after getting tangled up with Ales Kotalik of the Flames in the second period.  Eberle was able to leave the ice and head to the dressing room on his own power, but he was not able to put any pressure on his left leg.

There was no immediate word as to what Eberle's condition was after the game, but I don't expect to see anything until early next week, when the Oilers take to the ice again, Tuesday at home to Detroit.

It's hard to tell what the reasoning behind the scratching of Paajarvi actually was, unless you're in the coach's head, but you would think only having 14 points in 35 games would be a part, definitely not all, of the reason why he was sat out.  Paajarvi has found his way down to the 3rd and 4th lines for the Oilers on most nights, so he isn't really bringing the top-six level of play that may be required of him, so a night off to try and win the game was likely in order.  Lots of face to lose in a rivalry battle, so Tom Renney likely gave the team the best chance to win.

In the pool, a game off for Paajarvi likely didn't sit too well with Leon G., who took the most points out of the Winter Classic on Saturday night, as he likely wanted to build on a good night.  Leon finished up the night with 21 points in Week Thirteen, sitting in 11th place in the standings at the moment.  With Eberle going out, I would think Paajarvi may find himself getting some top-six time by default.

We are still awaiting word as to how bad Eberle's injury is, but for Stacey C., who is in the mix for the money in 8th place, only 23 points behind, he's hoping that the injury is very minor and that his young star can return right away.  Since we don't actually know, I won't speculate too much further, but it didn't look too good.

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