In today’s NHL rumour rundown, we start off with the scare Edmonton Oilers fans had after superstar Leon Draisaitl was spotted in Germany visiting a doctor regarding his lower-body injury. Sticking with the Oilers, Connor McDavid didn’t hold back when talking about the Pacific Division. Next, we head to the Toronto Maple Leafs, where goaltender Anthony Stolarz took a puck to the throat, shot by William Nylander during warmups.
Finally, the Colorado Avalanche are getting their captain back, who missed seven games with a lower-body injury suffered on Mar. 6.
Draisaitl Visits Doctor in Germany, Still on Same Injury Timeline
In Nov. 2024, Auston Matthews flew to Munich, Germany, to see Hans-Wilhelm Muller-Wohlfart, who specializes in sports medicine as a doctor. Matthews was listed as day-to-day and ended up missing nine games, but it caused lots of panic among the Leafs’ fans.
Fast-forward to now, Draisaitl did an exclusive interview with Sky Sport while in Germany, and revealed he was seeing the same doctor mentioned above.
The timeline given on Draisaitl was “a few weeks”, and Elliotte Friedman reported that, per general manager Stan Bowman, he could be back by the end of the regular season.
Friedman added that, as far as he understands, things are still on track for him to miss the rest of the regular season but to be healthy come playoff time.
McDavid Calls Pacific Division “Pillow Fight”
Following a 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Mar. 21, the Oilers’ captain took to the microphone and, when asked about the playoff race in the forgiving Pacific Division, he was pretty blunt about it.
“Obviously, we are fortunate to play in this division. A lot of teams are fortunate to play in this division. It is a bit of a pillow fight right now…”
The Oilers sit second in the division, trailing the Anaheim Ducks by three points for the top spot. That seems pretty good, but when compared across the league, that top spot held by the Ducks is 14th overall in the league. There are currently 10 teams in the Eastern Conference that would be leading that division.
The great thing about the Stanley Cup Playoffs is that as long as you get in, anything can happen. The Oilers have a pretty good cushion on their playoff spot, but they are going to need to play better down the stretch, as they have only won six of their last 16 games.
Stolarz Takes Puck to Neck During Warmups
During the warmups ahead of the Ottawa Senators and Maple Leafs’ game on Mar. 21, Nylander took a shot at Stolarz, hitting him in the throat, which ultimately led to him leaving the game and going to a hospital for precautionary imaging, according to the Maple Leafs.
As noted by Steve “Glynn” Dangle on his popular YouTube series, Leafs Fan Reacts (LFR), Nylander has done this in the past, too. He has been told to keep his warm-up shots lower and has put goalies in uncomfortable situations by not doing so.
Nylander was apologetic after the game when speaking to the media, and stated that he had been texting with the goaltender, checking in on him.
Stolarz was released from the hospital and joined the team for their return to Toronto.
While it was clearly a mistake and an unfortunate situation, with the state of the Maple Leafs, this could be added to the frustration many players have expressed based on the season.
Landeskog Set to Return for Avalanche
The Avalanche have been the best team in the NHL for the majority of the 2025-26 season, and have done so while dealing with many injuries. Prior to the start of Mar. 22’s game against the Washington Capitals, the Avalanche were without Landeskog, Ross Colton, and Arturri Lehkonen, who all play big jobs on that team. Landeskog returns for the game against Washington.
Landeskog was listed as week-to-week after taking a Cale Makar shot to the groin region on Mar. 6 during a game against the Dallas Stars.
Head coach Jared Bednar noted how important Landeskog is to the lineup, citing the 36-4-7 record with him playing, and a 9-9-3 record without him. Bednard stated, “It’s good to have him back. He will make a significant difference for us here tonight, and it’s good to see him back healthy and still with some runway to go here before the playoffs.”
The Avalanche have been dominating the league this season, and while in a very competitive race for the top spot in the league, they are hoping to be the ones who come out on top.
NHL Playoff Format Staying in Wild Card Format
Looking at the playoff races for the Oilers and Avalanche tells two very different stories.
The Oilers are blessed to be in the division they are in. If they were in a different division, they would have a much harder path, but the Avalanche are in the opposite situation. While they have held the top spot in the league and Central Division most of the season, they are fighting hard to stay there.
That isn’t to say the Avalanche aren’t playing well, though. It is more about how good the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild are. The top three teams in that division are all in the NHL’s top five teams right now, by points.
Two of those teams are going to have to play each other. Odds are, Minnesota is going to be in the third spot in the Central Division, as they are seven points behind the Stars and 10 points behind the Avalanche.
Dallas and Colorado are separated by three points, and it may come down to the wire for which of them gets to play a team squeaking in like the Nashville Predators, San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings, or Seattle Kraken. The other one? They get one of the best teams in the league.
Despite this situation not looking good for the wild card format, Gary Bettman spoke about the idea of going back to the conference-based format, where the top team plays the bottom team, and so on. He stated he is more than comfortable with the way the playoff format is now.
He added, “It gives us a sensational first round. Probably the best playoff first round in any sport. We get more games and longer series as a result of the format.”.
Bill Guerin, Chris MacFarland, and Jim Nill may disagree with that, but the league clearly has a stance that this is a better way to get ratings, as the divisional rivalries continue to grow. Regardless, it will be an entertaining first round, but at least one very good team is guaranteed a loss.
