Oilers goalie Mike Smith has suffered a “setback” and returned to Edmonton to have more tests done, coach Dave Tippett said on Thursday.
“The update on Mike Smith is he left to go back to Edmonton yesterday, had a setback in practice, so he’s gone back to get some further evaluation in Edmonton,” Tippett said Thursday. “It’s a concern, for sure, because it looks like he takes some steps ahead and goes out and works a little bit, and then has taken another step back. So I think it’s certainly a concern. He went through the last couple of days and near the end of practice, he kind of tweaked something, so he decided to go back and I think they’re going to do some more imaging of it today and we’ll get a better read on it at home.”
Mikko Koskinen and Stuart Skinner will continue to guard the nets for the Oilers in Smith’s absence.
Smith, 39, was 2-0 in three appearances this season, posting a .920 save percentage and a 3.08 goals-against average. He was placed on injured reserve with a “lower-body injury” on Oct. 21.
Last season, Smith was seventh in the Vezina Trophy voting after going 21-6-2 with a .923 save percentage and 2.31 goals-against average in 32 games. He was rewarded with a two-year contract extension in the summer.
[relatedlinks]
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.