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Could Edmonton Oilers forward Kailer Yamamoto miss the rest of the season, Evander Kane to miss Wednesday’s game and more

NHL Notebook: Could Edmonton Oilers forward Kailer Yamamoto miss the rest of the season, Evander Kane to miss Wednesday game and more

It’s been a tough year for Kailer Yamamoto.

He missed almost all of November with an injury, and just seemed to get back into a groove with his game. Prior to his most recent injury that has kept him out of the lineup since the Oilers played the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 11th, he had scored two goals and three points in four games.

Yamamoto is hurt. He hasn’t felt right most of the season his status is unclear even though he remains in Edmonton and around his teammates. Regardless of Yamamoto’s health, the Oilers don’t plan to find a top-six replacement for him on the trade market. It’ll be a bonus if they get him back and productive this season. If not, they feel like they have five bona fide top-six forwards. The sixth will be patchworked.

Yamamoto, who is eligible to return from LTIR on Feb. 12 — is dealing with concussion/neck issues, according to this Mark Spector article, and we all know how finicky these types of injuries can be — doubly so considering this is the same thing that sidelined him earlier in the year.

If Yamamoto is out for the rest of the year and unable to return, you have to wonder if the club will elect to treat Jesse Puljujarvi as their own rental, so to speak, with him already playing a depth role on the team.

Evander Kane isn’t expected to be in the Edmonton Oilers’ lineup on Wednesday when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets.

According to our own Jason Gregor, Kane is in San Jose dealing with bankruptcy proceedings.

Kane has drawn back into the Oilers’ lineup for three games since he returned from his gruesome wrist injury that he suffered back in November. In those games, Kane has scored no points, but has taken 13 shots on goal. It’s clear his wrist is feeling better, and a little extra rest during the All-Star break could be a good thing for him.

The St. Louis Blues have placed forward Pavel Buchnecivh on the injured reserve after the forward underwent a minor procedure to deal with an infection in his ankle.

The club made two more IR-related moves activating Vladimir Tarasenko and Torey Krug from the IR. Tarasenko had been dealing with a hand injury that kept him out of the lineup for 10 days, while Krug returns after missing 13 games with a lower-body injury.

Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at @zjlaingor reached by email at [email protected]