Arvidsson to return to Oilers lineup vs. Bruins after five-week absence

Edmonton Oilers winger Viktor Arvidsson tries to regain possession of the puck while sliding on the ice during preseason NHL action Oct. 2, 2024, against host the Seattle Kraken. (Lindsey Wasson/Associated Press)

A key free-agent acquisition will be back in the Edmonton Oilers' lineup on Thursday after missing more than a month of National Hockey League action due to injury.

Viktor Arvidsson hasn't suited up in blue-and-orange since the Oilers' Nov. 12 game against the New York Islanders. The winger who had been lining up regularly alongside Leon Draisaitl on the team's second forward line has missed 15 games after scoring two goals and three assists through the first 15 games of the NHL season.

Arvidsson said he had been playing with the undisclosed injury for about two-and-a-half weeks before the Oilers took him out of the lineup.

"(It) got to a point where I felt like it's just going to hurt myself even more, so we took some time off ... and made sure it's good to go now," he told media on Thursday after the morning skate ahead of the Oilers' game against the Boston Bruins (7 p.m.) at Rogers Place.

Arvidsson signed a two-year contract with the Oilers worth $4-million per season in July after spending the last three campaigns with the Los Angeles Kings. The 31-year-old Swede joined the NHL in 2015 with the Nashville Predators, the team that took him in the fourth round of the 2014 draft.

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said Thursday he thinks the team "did the right thing" having Arvidsson heal from his injury as much as possible and that he will ease him back into the lineup with Edmonton playing three games over the next four days.

"He's going to be a big part of our team and key (in) five-on-five, power play, penalty kill, but we're going to try and ease him into those situations," Knoblauch told media, adding he and his staff will "play by ear" whether or not Arvidsson would sit out one of the games.

"If he's healthy, I'm not going to take him out of the lineup," he said.

Hyman playing with broken nose

Top-line winger Zach Hyman, who has scored seven goals in the six games since he returned from an injury, will play Thursday against Boston after suffering a broken nose following a slap shot by teammate Evan Bouchard in Edmonton's 6-5 loss on Monday to Florida.

Hyman, who had scored two goals in the game against the Panthers when he was hit by the puck in the second period, returned in the third with a full face mask. He will wear it again on Thursday.

Knoblauch said the 32-year-old Hyman has "a lot of courage and bravery to play the way he does, being around the net as much as he (is)."

"He's got Evan Bouchard taking slap shots from back there (on the blue line), and he's never shy and reluctant to go (to the net)," Knoblauch said. "(And) not only that part of the game, but being banged up many times last year, he never wanted to come out of the lineup. (On Thursday), he had every opportunity to say, 'I don't feel right' – he's wearing that splint on his nose, his vision is not quite what it should be – but yeah, we can't pull him out of the lineup, not that we would want to, but he definitely wants to play."

Projected Oilers lineup

Forward

Defence

Goal