Bob Stauffer confirms lower-body injury for key Edmonton Oilers player

Matthew Savoie is banged up, and the Edmonton Oilers are already fielding questions about it heading into Wednesday.

Oilers Now voice Bob Stauffer said on the broadcast that Savoie is dealing with a lower body injury. No further detail was given.

That's the entire update right now. No timeline. No severity. Just a name and a body part, and Oilers fans left to fill in the blanks.

We learned earlier today that Savoie, Andersen, Janmark and Regula will miss training camp with injuries. Now were are fixed with the forward.

Savoie enters this stretch on a $886,667 cap hit, still on his entry-level deal and still trying to lock down a real role up front.

Last season he put up 37 points in 82 games, splitting time between secondary scoring duties and penalty kill work with two shorthanded goals.

He also chipped in five power play goals and five game-winning goals, numbers that matter more for a bottom-six forward trying to separate himself.

In his last 10 games of the season he had five points, then cooled with a single assist over his final five outings before the playoffs.

New coach Mike Babcock inherits an early injury question

This is where it gets interesting. Mike Babcock was hired as Edmonton's head coach back in June, and he hasn't even opened camp yet.

Now his first real roster decision might involve a 22-year-old winger who can't be evaluated on the ice.

Is that a big deal in August? Not on its own. But every missed rep matters more for a young player still fighting for a lineup spot than it does for an established name.

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Savoie did see the ice in the playoffs too, appearing in six games with a goal and an assist, proof he'd carved out a role Edmonton trusted in real games.

Losing even a few days of a new coach's evaluation window is a rough way to start a fresh chapter, and nobody's pretending otherwise.

The Oilers haven't put a date on his return. Until Babcock's staff says more, this stays a wait-and-see situation heading toward regular season.

Also read on Markerzone.com:
Oilers lose Frederik Andersen and three regulars before camp