Still no sign of Edmonton's prized summer acquisition, but at least ...

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Edmonton Oilers attack ace Zach Hyman was back on the ice today playing with the top power play unit, but not Viktor Arvidsson, Edmonton’s prize acquisition this summer who is still nowhere to be seen.

Said Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch of Arvidsson’s injury, “It hasn’t quite healed the way we assumed it would have.”

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Tony Brar of Oilers TV reported the following combos for tonight’s game against Columbus:

EDM lines & pairings at Morning Skate:

RNH – McDavid – Hyman Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Kapanen Janmark – Henrique – Skinner Perry – Ryan – Brown

Ekholm – Bouchard Nurse – Stecher Kulak – Emberson Dermott

Pickard Skinner

1. There are two mysteries around these two players, Arvidsson and Hyman, one with a simple explanation, one without such comfort.

2. Let’s start with the simple matter, Hyman’s lack of scoring this year. It mainly comes down to bad puck luck, as he’s been getting as almost as many Grade A shots as he did last year when he scored a career high 54 in 80 games. He’s got just three goals in 20 games so far.

3. This year Hyman has  43 Grade A shots in 20 games, 2.2 per game. He’s had 35 Grade A shots at even strength and eight on the power play, where he’s down a bit from his rate last season.

Hyman should have 10 or 11 goals just now, based on that quantity of Grade A shots. But he’s got just the three. That’s how the puck rolls at times, even for high volume Grade A shooters.

Last year, he had 206 in 80 games, 2.6 per game, good for 54 goals. He had 153 at even strength, 53 on the power play. That should have translated into about 51 goals for Hyman last year and he popped in 54.

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4. I’m not worried about Hyman’s lack of scoring, and I also think it was a major error by Team Canada’s brass not to have him on the team over any number of other forwards.

Colossal mistake.

Any analytics service worth the paper its written on would have ascertained that Hyman has played good-to-great two-way hockey so far this year. I would have expected Team Canada to have and used such analytics to evaluate players, but they evidently did not.

5. Of course, Hyman not getting the call for Team Canada is a blessing in disguise for the Oilers, as it will give him a much needed break.

5. As for Viktor Arvidsson, he played just 18 games last year for the Kings, but was a bull for Los Angeles in the playoffs against Edmonton. That’s why his signing was so well received by Oilers fans this summer.

In 16 games his year, he was also hit by bad puck luck but he played solid two-way hockey, and it appeared it was only a matter of time before he started to score more. Then around Nov. 12 came his own injury, which was first reported as day-to-day. It’s now moved from week-to-week and we’re into a new month.

Not good.

6. What’s ailing him? Who knows?

When will he be back? Who can say?

Not that fans and pundits need to know what’s set him back, but it’s starting to bring on major fanxiety, given how much time Arvidsson missed last year, and his injury-checkered history that goes back seven seasons.

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