Benoit Pouliot Headed to IR

Benoit Pouliot is out of the lineup, but the Oilers are going to be without him longer than expected, with multiple reports that he may be headed to injured reserve.

While the team hasn’t announced it yet, their website lists Pouliot as being on IR. He first missed a game on December 2 against the Boston Bruins, but was considered day-to-day at that point.

The 29-year-old joins Connor McDavid and Nail Yakupov on IR, putting the team’s entire second line from the start of the year on the shelf. Rob Klinkhammer is also on injured reserve, though he practiced on SAturdaya with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins’s line.

Pouliot has five goals and seven assists through 24 games this season, his second with the Edmonton Oilers. In his first season with the Oilers he put up a career-high 19 goals.

In addition to that trio, the team was without Jordan Eberle, Andrew Ference and Oscar Klefbom at Saturday’s practice. Brandon Davidson returned to practice and the team says that he may return to the lineup as soon as Sunday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.

With Pouliot and others out of the lineup, the team’s forward groups look like this in Saturday’s practice:

Hall-Draisaitl-Khaira
Klinkhammer-RNH-Purcell
Hendricks-Letestu-Korpikoski
Gazdic-Lander-Pakarinen