Ekholm Confirmed With Concussion, Out Against Toronto

The fall in Thursday's game against Carolina was bad enough to write about. Now it's confirmed: Mattias Ekholm has a concussion and will miss Friday's game against the Maple Leafs. No timeline beyond that.

What makes this harder than a single injury is the company it keeps. Devon Levi went on injured reserve this week as well, with the Oilers recalling Matt Tomkins from the AHL to cover. Jason Dickinson has been out since mid-October. The defense depth chart already had Ryan Shea and Spencer Stastney as the options behind Evan Bouchard before Ekholm went down — that's thin even in a normal week.

The Oilers are managing this without much margin. Bouchard is carrying the blue line right now, and the names behind him on the depth chart are not names that inspire comfort in a back-to-back situation.