Oilers provide an official update on Kassian & Nugent-Hopkins.

If you followed the buzz around practice for the Oilers over the weekend then you probably had a pretty good feeling this one was coming, but nonetheless this will prove to be big news for the Oilers anyways. 

According to an official announcement from the Oilers both veteran forwards Zack Kassian and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins will make their respective returns to the lineup on Sunday when the Oilers face off against Jack Eichel and the Buffalo Sabres. Both men had been out of the lineup for multiple games due to injury issues and that understandably took a large toll on the Oilers given that both men play in the organization's top 6 group of forwards.

Nugent-Hopkins initially had appeared to suffer the injury against the Las Vegas Golden Knights all the way back in November, but there have since been some indications that this may have been an ongoing issue for the former Oilers first round draft pick. Following the contest against the Golden Knights the Oilers, and Nugent-Hopkins, opted to shut him down and have him undergo a procedure to correct the damage in his hand, one that at the time saw Oilers head coach Dave Tippett gave him a prognosis of about 10 days for a full recovery. The Oilers clearly saw this as an ongoing issue that could continue to be a problem in the long term so hopefully this shorter term absence from Nugent-Hopkins will pay off in the long run.

Kassian has also been dealing with a nagging issue of his own, but in his case the issue stems from his back. Kassian has missed the last 4 games as a result of his injury and although he did practice with his teammates on Friday he was unable to go later that evening. Kassian did however proclaim himself on Saturday that he was ready to go this Sunday against the Sabres and it seems that he is now living up to his word. Head coach Dave Tippett confirmed that both men would be back in the lineup this evening to face the Sabres during a media scrum earlier today and you can check that out below courtesy of Oilers TV.