Good news for Edmonton Oilers fans as rookie pehnom Connor McDavid has been cleared for contact en route to a return from a fractured left clavicle.
He will practice with Bakersfield of the American Hockey League during the NHL All-Star break but won’t play in any games.
“Management and I came together and agreed to go to Bakersfield for a few days and skate and keep practicing,” McDavid told the Oilers website. “It’s a long break between now and then, just going to skate and get ready for what hopefully is a return on [Feb. 2].
“The practices are a little bit more intense, with a lot of battling and stuff like that. It will be good to be involved in that and hopefully come back feeling good and ready to go for the 2nd. Obviously, with this long break, it’s not ideal to go and sit around for eight days and then try to come back and feel good. I think it’s a good opportunity for me to feel good and be ready to go when I come back.”
McDavid has been sidelined since suffering the injury in a game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 3. At the time, it was announced that McDavid would be out for “months.”
The Oilers held their annual skills competition yesterday, with McDavid participating in the shooting accuracy portion of the event.
“Today was a little bit of a tease, almost,” McDavid said of the skills competition. “It was dressed up like a game, fans were there, everyone was acting like it’s a game, so it’s almost like a tease. It’s exciting to be back on the ice today with the guys and the fans.”
McDavid has five goals and seven assists in 13 games this season.
