The Edmonton Oilers placed forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on IR on Thursday, and placed forward Matthew Savoie and defenceman Alec Regular on LTIR.
The Oilers also called up forward Josh Samanski from the AHL’s Bakersfield Condors under emergency conditions.
Nugent-Hopkins is dealing with a lower-body injury that kept him out of the team’s 6-5 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks in Tuesday’s season opener. He sustained the injury in practice on Monday.
Oilers head coach Mike Babcock said Tuesday that Nugent-Hopkins did not have a timeline for a potential return, but also noted that he only expected Nugent-Hopkins to be out short-term.
The absence of Nugent-Hopkins was a significant blow to the Oilers’ centre depth, and forced the Oilers to split up star forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, with the two skating on separate lines in the season opener.
The 33-year-old Nugent-Hopkins had 20 goals and 56 points in 72 games with the Oilers last season, adding two goals and five points in six playoff games.
Selected first overall in the 2011 draft, Nugent-Hopkins is entering his 16th season with the Oilers.
Savoie, 22, missed training camp while recovering from an off-season injury suffered in training. He set career highs across the board last season in his first full-time stint in the NHL with the Oilers, posting 18 goals and 37 points in 82 games.
The 26-year-old Regula is recovering from off-season surgery and does not have a timeline for a return to play at this point.He skated in 29 games for the Oilers last season, registering three assists. He missed the entirety of the 2024-2025 season with a knee injury.
The Oilers said in a release in August that updates on Savoie and Regula would be released at the appropriate time for both.
The Oilers return to action Thursday evening in a rematch against the Canucks in Vancouver.
