The injury Oilers’ Connor McDavid played through vs. Ducks

Connor McDavid was clearly not at 100 percent in the Edmonton Oilers’ six-game, first-round Stanley Cup Playoff loss to the Anaheim Ducks, which was one of the catalysts of the team going home early in 2026.

On Saturday, head coach Kris Knoblauch admitted that McDavid, as well as Jason Dickinson, were both playing through fractures in the series.

“Both Connor and Dickinson had fractures in the foot/ankle area,” the bench boss told reporters, per Sportsnet’s Gene Principe. “I have a lot of admiration for their willingness to battle through and get on the ice.”

Edmonton was forced to deal with a plethora of injuries throughout the 2025-26 season, but McDavid and Leon Draisaitl not being at full health for the postseason was a key reason for the early demise.

“Too hurt, too soon,” McDavid said after Thursday’s Game 6 loss. “The first round is always tough. It’s always chaotic, and it’s tough to play through things so early on, as many guys did in here. Credit to our staff for making guys available and making sure they’re as comfortable as possible. That being said, it’s not an excuse either. We expected to have a longer run than we did. It is what it is.”

It appears that McDavid sustained the fracture during Game 2, which caused him to struggle throughout the series. Draisaitl missed the Oilers’ final 14 regular season contests due to a lower-body injury, but returned for Game 1.

“It’s hard. Our centers – one, two, three – are playing through stuff,” Draisaitl said. “But at the end of the day, you gotta find ways to win games in any way. You gotta grind one out, you gotta defend one out. Injuries, yeah, they suck, and it hit us at a bad time certainly, but at the end of the day, they were the better team.”

McDavid admitted that the Oilers were “an average team all year,” and that plus the ailments was too much to overcome against an inspired Ducks club in Round 1. That came after Edmonton finished second in the Pacific Division with 93 points, their lowest points percentage since 2018-19.

It’ll now be an offseason full of questions as the back-to-back Western Conference champions reckon with a first-round exit this summer.

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