Drop the Oil

The Edmonton Oilers are monitoring Trent Frederic’s high ankle sprain, a lingering injury that threatens his playoff impact.

There’s no sugarcoating the situation with Trent Frederic, if he choses to let that nagging high ankle sprain heal completely, the next time fans would see him in uniform might be next season.

That’s the cold reality, and it’s forcing the team and player to consider risk over rest.

At this stage, it’s all about pain tolerance and timing.

Trent Frederic should sit out the first round

Playing through the injury isn’t ideal, but neither is sitting out and gambling that full recovery happens before it really matters.

The last time Frederic tried to return early, the result was a reinjury, a painful setback both physically and mentally.

If Frederic were to wait for that high ankle sprain to disappear completely, we suspect, he wouldn’t play a game until September.

That’s what Mark Spector reported via Sportsnet,

Edmonton picked him up ahead of the Trade Deadline hoping to inject some physical edge and presence down the stretch, a gritty addition tailored for playoff-style hockey.

But so fa, the player they envisioned hasn’t materialized.

His size, attitude, and role were supposed to be a game-changer.

Instead, the concern now is whether he’ll be able to stay on the ice at all.

It’s a matter of gauging how much pain he can stand, and then wagering on the chance he reinjures himself, like he did the last time he tried a comeback.

Right now, there’s a lot of frustration, the team is caught in a holding pattern.

From Frederic’s perspective, the desire to contribute clashes directly with the fear of breaking down again.

And it’s hard to ignore the growing gap between what was hoped for and what is.

The thought of Frederic ever becoming what he was meant to be this spring that Trade Deadline acquisition whose size and demeanour is exactly what the Oilers need, seems distant right now.

But when the conversation shifts from how he’ll help to whether he can play at all, it’s clear the plan hasn’t unfolded the way Edmonton expected.

For now, there’s no hard timeline, no guaranteed fix.

Just a waiting game wrapped in uncertainty and pain management, the kind of story that keeps trainers busy and fans hoping for a turnaround.