Draisaitl Dealing With Concussion

The eye injury that Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl is dealing with is apparently much more than an eye injury, as confirmed by the coaching staff on Saturday morning.  Draisaitl is now also said to be dealing with concussion-type symptoms and that will be what keeps him out of tonight's contest against the Edmonton Oilers and possibly even longer.

The concussion protocol has quietly changed over the last couple of seasons and players can now be considered day-to-day with a concussion and it isn't quite mandatory to rest for the week, rather players are thought to try and push through their symptoms and if they are still suffering from them, they should shut down any exercise.  This doesn't mean players can't hit the Injured Reserve with a concussion, it is just treated a little differently.

The power forward already has a goal and a pair of assists in Edmonton's first three games this season, but will now sit out for at least one game, as the Oilers try to assess how bad the situation actually is.

If this does creep into a longer-term issue, Stacey C.'s proxy team may not be sitting so high in the standings for very long, losing a point-per-game kind of player.  Stacey has already lost a defenseman for the long-term, as noted earlier this morning, so it's been a rough morning, to say the least, for the current 4th place team in the standings.