Ales Hemsky Returning To Edmonton

When the Oilers take on the Wild tonight in Minneapolis they will do so without Ales Hemsky.

Ales Hemsky has returned to Edmonton for further evaluation on his injured ankle suffered Tuesday night in Dallas.

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 16, 2014

"The swelling was large. It was obvious he wasn't going to be able to play." - Eakins on Hemsky (ankle) back in #yeg for evaluation

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) January 16, 2014

That doesn't sound good, and unfortunately with Hemsky when it doesn't sound good it is often as bad or worse than it sounds. Hemsky has a history of playing through a lot when it comes to injuries, last season he played with a broken foot, so if he can't go it's got to be pretty bad. Given that he's returning to Edmonton I would guess that he probably won't be in the lineup on Saturday afternoon when the Oilers play in Winnipeg either.

For tonight there is no word yet on how the lineup will be adjusted to address this. The most logical solution to me is to move Ryan Smyth up the lineup into Hemsky's spot, leaving the newly acquired Matt Hendricks to play the pivot between Luke Gazdic, and Ryan Jones as the Oilers fourth line.