The Edmonton Oilers won’t have Tyler Ennis back in the lineup tomorrow as they try to stave off elimination, and even if they win he likely won’t be available for a while. The team has announced that Ennis is out “indefinitely” with the injury he sustained last night. The speedy forward was hit behind his own net by Kirby Dach and was forced to leave the game.
That may very well be the end of the line for a trade deadline acquisition that worked out very well for the Oilers. Ennis recorded four points in nine regular season games following the trade and already had two in the qualification rounds. The 30-year old helped provide the much-needed speed upfront that the Oilers had been lacking for years (other than Connor McDavid, of course).
There is always a chance that he returns if the Oilers can come back and win against the Blackhawks, but the question could now become whether or not the team wants to bring him back in free agency. An unrestricted free agent at season’s end, Ennis is coming off consecutive one-year contracts that each paid less than $1M in salary. After putting up 16 goals and 37 points total this season he’ll obviously be looking for something bigger than that moving forward.