Why did Connor McDavid leave Oilers practice early on Monday?
Tensions are high with the struggling Oilers. Connor McDavid leaving any team event early won't help matters.
If the Edmonton Oilers and franchise player Connor McDavid said they were happy with how this season has gone, they'd be lying. After qualifying for the last two Stanley Cup Finals, the Oilers are just barely holding onto one of the last playoff spots in the Western Conference with 77 points. They're safe, for now, but they also have no margin for error and are likely to have one of the harder opening postseason matchups based on their current positioning.
As you can imagine, given the Oilers' reasonable high expectations, tensions have run high in Edmonton. So much so that it was way too easy to read into McDavid leaving the team's Monday practice early. It's important to note that McDavid didn't seem injured, BUT any time you walk off the ice with team trainers, everyone will naturally assume the worst.
Talk about a possible disaster the Oilers could ill-afford after already sitting on the playoff bubble. Gulp: McDavid left practice part way through and is in with trainers. Didn’t look like he was injured but we’ll follow up with Knoblauch after skate.
— Ryan Rishaug (@TSNRyanRishaug) March 23, 2026 A few hours later, everyone in Edmonton could take a deep breath. If there was anything wrong with McDavid, further evaluations ruled the worst out. He turned out to be fine or, at the very least, well enough not to miss any games moving forward: Said he was fine when he spoke after practice.